Sunday's challenge was chosen by Jaime of Good Eats and Sweet Treats and is one of the few pictured recipes in the SMS book, Bee Stings. Melissa claims she discovered these little treats while trying to create a doughnut recipe that could be baked rather than deep fried. The result is small sweet buns, almost like brioche, filled with a vanilla custard and glazed with a honey caramel. Sounds delicious. Unfortunately, mine weren't. Like most of the SMS bakers, my dough simply did not form a ball nor did it stop sticking to the side of my Kitchenaid bowl as the recipe stated. I added more flour and continued to mix, after a while it looked almost ball like so I gave up and set it away to rise. I had to give it the full 3 hours but eventually it did double in size, so I formed it into balls and stuck them in the fridge. The following morning I allowed them their second rise which didn't seem to do much but make them slightly fatter. At this point I was pretty sick of looking at them so baked them regardless.
The pastry cream came together quickly and easily and smelled delicious. I refused to taste it cold as I have a fear of chilled custard, it's just so very wrong. I filled the buns, dipped them in caramel, topped them with almonds and stood back to admire. Sure they looked pretty, but how did they taste? Not very good is the answer to that question! I just found the buns a little boring and really not worth the effort involved in making them. I doubt I'll be trying this one again, but I'm sure glad I gave it a go.
As usual, check out everyone elses Bee Stings!
