Honeybee Bread on the Feast of St. Benedict

 While we decided we needed to play with this idea a little more before the next time we try it, we weren't dissatisfied with our honeybee bread this afternoon.  Anything eaten drizzled with honey is well worth making, no matter what -- and it really was a fun baking and construction project!

We followed this recipe for sweet bread (ignore the braid and the Easter egg bit included...), rolled it out into a long cylindrical "snake" shape,  then twirled it up up into a spiral, starting with a big circle approximately  ten inches across the bottom, and decreasing in size to a somewhat pointed peak.  Then, we let it rise until doubled (roughly the diameter of a paper plate) and baked it.  It browned a little more than we should have let it, as you can see -- and Cathy and I both wished we'd put an egg glaze on it, plus it kinda tilted to one side when it baked -- but the children were pleased...

Especially with the little goofy-faced bees.

These we imagineered out of just a few things we had on hand already.  The bodies are made out of left-over sugar cookie dough from St. Patrick's Day, the wings are pecan halves, the stripes (which you can't see very well in the pictures, I'm afraid) are made out of thin slices of a tootsie roll, the faces have bits of raisin for the eyes and a bit of craisin for the noses -- and the stingers are made out of  half toothpicks.

Far from perfect, but the kiddos got a big kick out of our little bees -- especially when they lit in the honey we drizzled on a slice of St. Benedict's bread after supper -- and then buzzed (sans stingers!) into their "open hangar" mouths.

Yum!

Happy Feast of St. Benedict, Indeed!