I am so overwhelmed, on so many levels about this whole thing, that it’s hard to even type! “Spun Honey” was something that my whole entire family enjoyed because of my Grandma. ALL us grandkids, plus her own kids (my mom and uncles), and half the kids in Champaign, Illinois, that she babysat, ALL knew what “spun honey” was!!! (Plus their kids whom they brought to her, knowing how wonderfully they were treated growing up, and wanted and trusted my Grandma to help bring up their own kids, too!) The day my Grandma passed away, was a very sad day for sooo many people! She will be remembered and loved for decades to come.
One of the “treats” she’d make us all, was simply Sue Bee Spun Honey on toast with a little butter. We’d have it along with our breakfast at the crack of dawn, usually consisting of Cream of Wheat or oatmeal, and then again in the middle of the afternoon as a treat once the last of her soaps and “programs”, as she called them, were done. After “As the World Turns”, who would surely reveal new scandals before noon the next day!, Bob Barker was done for the day giving away yet another kitchen set, and Dialing for Dollars Afternoon Movie would just get started and was SURE to finally call us for free lawn service or maybe some Monical’s pizza coupons ! 😀 That’s when my Grandma would set her latest quilt aside that she was working on, and sneak out to the kitchen to surprise us all with a special treat. Sometimes it was fresh-popped popcorn in her old pot that she’d shake loudly across her red hot coils on the electric 1960’s green stove…and sometimes…it was spun honey on toast!!! 😀
Hot-buttered popcorn was good, but oooohhhhh that spun honey!!!!! It was a ROYAL treat and something to be savored! 😀
My hubby, thanks to the folks at Sue Bee Honey, has FINALLY gotten to see what all the fuss has been about! We moved from the midwest and Sue Bee Spun Honey has been nowhere to be found! Funny!!! –> My hubby has sworn that he does NOT like honey. He heard me for years talk about “spun honey” and how good it is, and NOW he suddenly loves honey!!! Yep!!! He loves it, and says, “it’s not the same as regular honey”. Indeed it isn’t. 😉 (Though I love ANY kind of honey, myself. 😉 ) But I’m THRILLED that he has finally gotten to try it and that he loves it, too!! 😀
So would you like to see my second recipe that I made thanks to Sue Bee for sending me some? The last recipe, my Galette that I made on a whim was really good, don’t get me wrong, but THIS was the idea that I had in my head that I so wanted to experiment with and all I can say is…HOLY * #!@!!&$# this was GOOD!!! 😀 WOW….!!!
I rarely amaze my own self. THIS time – – I did.
So here it is! 😉
Being a total foodie, I get ideas in my head day and NIGHT and have Post-It notes all over the kitchen full of half-figured ideas! THIS was one of those ideas. 😉 Starting with figs! I mixed up a sweet concoction that made our knees buckle! Spun honey, the seeds scraped from one vanilla bean, and just a little balsamic vinegar! YES, you read that correctly. SWEET, aged, balsamic vinegar! Just a tad, but I could easily have added more, lemme tell ya! I contemplated on whether or not I was going to make more of this TDF nectar of the gods…but eating it by the spoonful over the sink, in fast motion-style resembling Lucille Ball eating all those chocolates, wasn’t what I wanted captioned and plastered all over Facebook. <— “Honey Hoarder!! On the loose! Have you seen her?”
I roasted them for just a short time to infuse the flavors and not burn the honey and the aroma was incredible! It was like a fresh meadow wearing a light perfume. Absolutely amazing! 😀
The only trouble, and near disaster I had, was with that darned puff pastry. It was hot and humid that day, and I BARELY got the first of the 3 folds mangled, opened and separated. I had to keep popping it back into the fridge, and never could get that other side separated! It was completely melted together. So I folded the one side back over, folded it in half and re-rolled the whole dang thing! 😉 Worked like a CHARM. WHEW! Thank goodness! I wasn’t going to let ANYTHING stop me from making this! 😉 😀
I then cut it into 4 slightly rectangular “squares”, trimmed off the corners to make “leaves”, and cut inward from the corners using a pizza wheel. I popped the other two in the fridge to make a second filling, because my hubby swore he didn’t like brie, either. Uh huh. 😉 😉
I then just simply placed a 1″ piece of brie in the center, topped it with overlapping slices of roasted figs, and drizzled the top with more balsamic-vanilla bean-spun honey sauce!
(*Above is the second filling that I made with the other two for my hubby in case he really didn’t care for the brie. ) He ended up liking the brie ones better, go figure, but BOTH were outstanding! 😉
Then, you just fold up the the sides that will automatically resemble a rose, moistening the edges to seal, and cupping in your had to round the bottom edge. Make anything you’d like out of the trimmed corner pieces. Then just brush with a simple egg wash and pop into the oven! 😀
And wahlah! A beautiful little rose! 😀 Almost too pretty to eat. Almost. 😉
But there’s just one more special touch to add…. 😉
And this was a HUGE surprise!!! I was so excited that I ran into my hubby’s office to tell him what I had just learned! That when I coated the pistachios with more of the honey sauce, that the excess mixture turned to paper-thin hard sugar when baked. Just as pretty as a stained-glass window and just as delicate!! I will remember this and use it OFTEN for future desserts!! It was SHOCKINGLY good! And just beautiful! 😀
The only heart-breaker, was, that it was MASSIVELY hot and disgustingly humid that day. I tried as hard as I could to get a shot of a shard standing up before it melted like one of those collapsing characters that you push up on the bottom to make them fall down. It was sad, and yet comical to watch, as I tried so hard to snap as fast as I could! But they wanted to slowly melt like the wicked witch and a bucket of water! But, the pieces still tasted good!! SO good, that I’m going to remember this come Christmastime!! I think I’m on to a really fantastic treat and many gifts made from this concept! 😉
Again, so many thanks to the wonderfully generous people at Sue Bee Honey for cheering me up and sending us my favorite treat so that I could not only enjoy as is, but also have wonderful fun making these two desserts! (See other dessert: Honey & Almond Galette with Huckleberries, Peaches & Blackberries). Nothing like a special dessert to turn the day around! 😀 And I am so thrilled that my hubby is finally a honey lover! A Spun Honey lover only….but I’m working on him. 😉
So if you have never tried spun honey, I highly recommend that you add it to your bucket list and cross it off immediately. 😉 It’s truly a royal treat!! 😀 Have a most wonderful day all, and I’ll see you tomorrow! 😀
*UPDATE!! My recipe took Third Place in the Sue Bee Honey Recipe Contest!! 😀
Note: These are my own personal opinions of this product.
*The links to the Sue Bee Spun Honey reflect the price of a case of 1 lb. tubs, not just for one.
Honey-Roasted Balsamic-Vanilla Bean Fresh Fig Pastry Roses with Brie & Caramelized Honey-Pistachios
Ingredients
Alternative Filling:
Instructions