For you mortals in the aboveground, bees are the manufacturers of sweet, delicious honey, and to be honest, those of us who dwell down under are more than a little jealous of your fuzzy, aerodynamically challenged sugar factories who spend all their time pollinating flowers, building intricate waxy honeycomb hives and pumping out gallon after gallon of delicious, golden happiness.
Down here in Hell, our bees are an angry hybrid of yellowjackets and a tarantula hawk which makes them a whole hell of a lot bigger and meaner. On top of that, these flying monstrosities produce zero honey and their stings are known to bring even the biggest demon to their knees in agony.
What they do produce, however, are sweet, flaky paper hives stuffed absolutely full of teeny tiny wriggling pre-bees that, when toasted lightly, are absolutely delicious. Crunchy on the outside, sweet and creamy with a peppery bite from all that venom on the inside…they’re to die for.
Now, as I said above, your bees make beeswax and it’s your wasps that make the paper hives that you so often see hanging from the eaves of homes…so getting your own version of our delicious underworld beehives means making some small adaptations and modifications to a traditional 1000 layer mooncake and stuffing it full of creamy sweet potato filling.
And before we go any further, yes, this post contains affiliate links. You can read my entire advertising disclosure here for full details.
Now, let’s get back to the delicious stuff.
To make your own underworld inspired ghost pepper honey soaked killer bee hives you will need:
For the filling:
- 2 cups sweet potato, peeled, roasted and mashed
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons salted butter
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
To make dough A you will need:
- 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
- 1/3 cups bread flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1 1/2 teaspoon black charcoal powder (1 1/2 capsules)
- 1/2 cup cold water
To make dough B you will need:
- 1 1/4 all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 teaspoon black charcoal powder (1/2 capsule)
Topping:
- 1/2 cup honey
The secret to these faux killer bee hives is the dough. We’ll be using two separate types of doughs layered together in a process called “laminating.” Because one dough is oil based and the other is water based, the two react together during the cooking process, pulling away from one another and splitting apart into layers that closely resemble the layers of the paper-based killer bee hive.
The first thing we need to do is prep our filling. Since you can’t get Hellbound Bee grubs, you’ll have to make your own “replacement,” which we’ll do with sweet potatoes.
In a pot over low heat, combine your milk with your sugar and cook until your sugar is completely dissolved.
In a separate bowl, mix together your sweet potato mash, cinnamon, and your tapioca starch.
To help prevent clumps, sift in a little starch at a time and mix to combine before adding in the next bit of starch.
Once your sugar is totally dissolved in the milk, add your sweet potato mash and your butter and bring the temperature up to medium.
As the mixture cooks, all the liquid will evaporate and the whole thing should become thick and almost gluey. Continue cooking for approximately 5 minutes or so making sure to stir constantly so you don’t scorch the mixture.
Allow the mix to cool to room temperature.
The Devil’s in the Details: I’ve found that the easiest way to handle the filling when doing the final wrap up of the killer bee hives is by pre-freezing the filling in an ice cube tray. This not only portions them out perfectly but also makes them easier to handle when pinching all the dough closed. This step is optional, but one I found saved me time and trouble.
Now let’s make our two doughs.
For your water dough, also called the “A” dough, mix together your vinegar, bread flour*, sugar, shortening and charcoal powder. Drizzle in just enough of your cold water slowly until the entire mixture comes together in a dark gray sticky dough.
*I suggest using a bread flour as it is higher in protein than regular all-purpose flour. While you can absolutely use AP flour, the bread flour will result in a much stretchier final product which will give you flakier results at the end.
Wrap this dough up in plastic wrap and pop into the fridge to relax for at least 30 minutes. While it’s chilling, let’s move onto our oil dough, otherwise known as “B” dough.
To make your oil dough, simply combine your AP flour with the rest of your shortening and the 1/2 teaspoon charcoal powder. You should end up with a silky smooth, light gray dough. Just like your “A” dough, wrap your “B” dough in plastic wrap and pop into the fridge to chill for a half hour as well.
Before we go any further, I do have to tell you, this recipe can be a bit…finicky…when it comes to warm temperatures, which means the cooler you keep your dough prior to baking it, the happier it will be and the better your results. We’ll hold off on pre-heating the oven until the very last minute and you should keep any dough you’re not currently working with in the fridge in order to keep it chilled.
Okay, let’s move onto assembling our hives.
Pull out your chilled “A” dough and pat into a ball. Divide the ball in half and then in half again and again and so on until you are left with approximately 12-16 equally sized balls.
Do the same with your “B” dough, making sure you end up with the same amount of equal pieces as you have for your “A” dough.
Take one of your “A” pieces and pat out flat into a thin circle. Roll a piece of your “B” dough into a ball and place that into the center of your flattened “A” piece.
Gently pull the edges of your “A” piece up and around your “B” piece, pinching to seal it shut and completely sealing the “B” dough inside.
Continue flattening each of your “A” dough pieces and using them to seal up your “B” dough pieces until you run out.
To make them easier to handle, after rolling the “B” dough into my “A” dough, I put all of my “AB” combined pieces onto a tray which I kept in the fridge, pulling out one piece at a time to work with for the next steps.
By now your filling should be frozen and we can move onto final assembly.
This part can be confusing…trust me, I know, which is why I have photographed the whole thing and put it into a chart to hopefully make it easier to follow along.
Are you ready? Deep breath…here we go.
Take one of your “AB” balls and roll it out flat into a long thin “noodle” about 6-8 inches long. Once it’s rolled out, start at the bottom and roll it back up into a tube.
Turn the tube 90 degrees and roll it out into a flat noodle a second time. Don’t worry about making it a wide noodle, just get it nice and flat. 
As you roll the dough out, you may notice it separating a bit in layers. this is just the oil dough and water dough reacting with each other and it’s bound to happen a little bit almost no matter what you do. If you notice it happening a lot or find your dough is sticking to your rolling pin and shredding, it means your dough is too warm. Pop it back in the fridge for 10 minutes and try again once it’s cooled down.
Again, just like we did with the first flat noodle, we’re going to start at the bottom and roll it up into a fat jelly roll. Cut that roll in half, creating two equal sized pieces.
Take one of those pieces and place it flat side down, spiral side up and roll it out again, this time into a circular shape. As you roll, try to keep the spiral in the center.
Drop in one of your frozen fillings into the middle and then bring the edges of your dough up and around it, creating a ball. Use a bit of water to help stick the dough edges together.
Gently roll your dough into a ball shape and place on a cookie sheet, pinched side down. Continue rolling out, filling up and pinching shut your dough pieces until you either run out of dough balls or out of filling.
Once they’re filled with sweet potato, leave your “hives” out on your cookie sheet to rest for at least 20 minutes before baking. This should give you time to finally pre-heat your oven!
That’s right…NOW we’ll turn on the oven.
Pre-heat your oven to 350F/176C. Once your oven is up to temperature, bake your hives for approximately 30 minutes. As they cook, the two layers of dough will separate, creating delicious flaky layers just like you’d find in a paper wasp nest.
Once they’re done baking, I suggest serving them immediately by drizzling a generous spoonful of honey over top. Mmm…like this…
Oh yeah…so ridiculously delicious!
Now as I mentioned in the opening, the killer bee hives we get in Hell have a serious spicy kick to them and so far we’ve added nothing spicy to this recipe, which is why I suggest using an infused honey to top these off. My personal favorite for fiery honey comes from the BeeCreeper team over at the Kobold Honey Company.
A few months ago I used their honey to give my facehugger roasted chicken a serious kick and fell in love with the flavor of their ghost pepper honey.
Not only do they have incredible honey products in a variety of flavors, but they’re also actively doing what they can to help save the bees. It’s no secret honey bees are in trouble. From parasites, pesticides, and diseases, it’s a bad time to be a bee. Bees don’t just make honey, they’re also responsible for pollinating 90% of the world’s food crops. Without bees, the majority of the agricultural industry will collapse, triggering a reaction of collapse that will extend all the way to the top of the food chain. This is why it’s so important to support sustainable beekeepers like the Kobold Honey Company…which is why I’m taking this opportunity to plug not only their company but a giveaway for a few of their products as well to help raise awareness for all they’re doing! (the fact that they’re also huge fans of horror also makes them awesome in my book. All in all, these guys are pretty damn cool!)
From now until the 1st of June 2018, swing by my Facebook page for your chance to enter the BeeCreeper Giveaway! One lucky winner will receive a jar of Ghost Pepper Honey, a BeeCreeper hat, and a Nomicon apron.
And if you’re looking for more sweet treats, why not give our dread pudding with vanilla bourbon blood sauce a try?
Bone appetite!
I love this so much. Hot honey is the best!!!