This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was chosen by Jaime of Good Eats ‘n Sweet Treats: bee stings! Melissa created the bee stings out of her love for doughnuts. They’re basically brioche buns filled with vanilla pastry cream which are dipped in a honey caramel glaze and topped with toasted almonds. They sounded delicious and I was excited to try them!
Unfortunately, luck (and perhaps skill?) were not on my side with this week’s recipe. I started off by making the brioche dough and found it pretty tricky to work with. I added a lot more flour than the recipe listed (I lost track of how much extra but at least 1/4 cup and probably even more) and I kneaded close to 20 minutes with my stand mixer, but the dough hadn’t really formed a ball and was still sticking to the sides of the bowl. I was weary about adding more flour, so I gave up and stuck it in another bowl for its first rise. It didn’t look like it rose much (even after 3 hours) but it was late and I was tired so I shaped into rolls and went to bed. The next morning, I put the rolls in the oven for the second rise. They spread a bit but didn’t rise much. I baked them anyway, and fresh from the oven I tried one. I thought it was tasty, however, as the rolls cooled they became quite dense.
I didn’t know if they could be salvaged but I wasn’t optimistic and didn’t want to waste time and ingredients making pastry cream so I skipped ahead and made the honey caramel glaze. The glaze was really yummy and thickened up nicely as it cooled. I didn’t have any sliced almonds but I found some slivered almonds hiding in the freezer so I toasted those and topped the buns with them. I hope to make these again at some point with better results – perhaps with some of the pointers I pick up from the other bakers this week!
I always have trouble when a recipe indicates a baked good is best the day it is made. There are only two of us here so I always need to find someone to pass the treats along to and that’s a challenge on the weekends when coworkers aren’t an option 🙂 I planned to give at least 4 of the bee stings to my mailman (see below) so I was pretty bummed when the mail truck pulled up and I discovered my mailman was on vacation. His replacement was much less receptive to my baked goods so I guess I’m going to find out how the bee stings are on the second day.
Thanks, Jaime, for a fun selection this week! You can find the recipe on her blog or in The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. Stop by the Sweet Melissa Sundays site to see the other bee stings!
I’m sorry that this dough was so difficult to work with. Your bee stings sure turned out pretty, though! Too bad your mailman was on vacation 🙁 I hear you with the “what do I do with these baked goods” problem; it’s only Todd and myself in the apartment, and I often have way too many goodies around!
THESE SOUND DELICIOUS. PITY YOU DIDN T HAVE MUCH LUCK WITH THESE. ALTHOUGH THEY LOOK QUITE GOOD PERHAPS NOT PERFECTLY RISEN AS YOU STATED.
I can’t believe your mailman wouldn’t take your bee stings! Sometimes I have trouble passing off my food too. I hate it when people think I’m trying to poison them…hahaha. That’s so cool you have a mailman. We just have a box outside of my street.
You can’t go wrong with honey glaze and pastry cream!
I love honey and I love the name of these. They look great!
I had the same problems with the dough but yours look a lot prettier than mine!
These look beautiful! And how generous of you to give them away after all that effort!
thanks for baking along with me this week! don’t be shy adding more flour to a yeast recipe. i thought they were more dense than i had imagined too. oh, and i only baked up 4 and then froze the rest – that solves the problem of “best when eaten the day they are made” 🙂
Mine didn’t rise and were dense, too! 🙁 Sadness. Maybe we’ll have to try them again in the future
They look great, despite all the problems they gave you. I was happy to see your comments on the P&Q section of the SMS site about the dough being sticky, so I knew to add a extra (procrastination paying off). Sorry the substitute mailman didn’t take any off your hands; I would think most people would be happy to try these!
I had such a hard time even getting this recipe for the pastry cream to work that I had to bail this time. Kudos to you for making them! They still look really nice!
Nicely done, Travey! Although you had trouble with it… it is in those times one can tell who had fairy fingers and not, for it turned out perfect looking! Bravo!
You got a lot further than I did. My dough didnt rise at all and i totally gave up. Props to you for going foward — they look fantastic!
Your substitute mailman rejected your baked goods? That’s adding insult to injury! Sorry they didn’t work; that always annoys me.
I had the same trouble with the dough. The cream did make them taste better and I loved the glaze. We’ll all do better next time. Yours look great, they look acutally perfect.
I love the mailman story! He should have been receptive to baked goods. Is he nuts? They look truly lovely and I probably would ahve had a hard time with brioche dough – any problem you had diud not show up in your photos.
The first time I made these, they were dense and biscuit like. This time, they were much better, but still not something I would make again.
And who ever heard of a mailman refusing sweets? The nerve!
Sorry you had trouble with these. They look great, though!
Ciao ! I’ve never heard of Bee Stings and even if they were not the easiest thing to make they look very nice !!
Your bee stings look great. Too bad it didn’t quite work out for you. I don’t know why I perservered and tried again. I was so ready to throw in the towel.
They look great. Im sorry I missed this one but am kind of glad cus of the dough issues!
Your Bee Stings look delicious! Too bad they gave you a bit of trouble; I passed on this weeks recipe.
They look delicious! So, how were they on day 2, anyway? Actually, I’ll just ask you on Twitter! I can’t believe your backup mailman didn’t want your bee stings – hope the regular guy is back soon! You did a fantastic job with these!
That’s odd that your mailman didn’t want them- maybe he has a nut allergy? I have the same problem with baked goods saying they should be eaten the same day- when I made the sour cherry pie, it was eaten over several days and I left it with my parents (my dad said it still tasted good a few days later). I wonder if she just says that because she owns a bakery, so everything is always so fresh? Anyway, your bee stings look wonderful, and it’s too bad that the dough didn’t rise as much as you’d hoped.
I love that you give treats to your mailman. I have to give things away too since its just the hubby and I, so I agree with baked fresh that day stuff. They look good and tasty to me.
Your bee stings are super cute! I had the exact same problems with the dough :S
Katie xox
i would have GLADLY accepted those baked goodies!! the mailman didn’t know what he was missing 🙂