Werther's Caramel Creme Filled Baked Bismarcks

I love caramel.  I mean really, really love it.  I'd rather have caramel, vanilla or butterscotch over chocolate nine times out of ten.  So when I was asked to hold a baking party for Werther's Originals new soft caramels, I jumped at the chance.  I get to bake and someone's going to send me caramels?  That's really a no-brainer!

I'm always looking for an excuse to make something different that you wouldn't normally make at home.  I recently came across Glazed Filled Sugared and Dipped by Stephen Collucci.  Its an entire cookbook about making donuts!  This is something I wouldn't normally make at home, but is pretty darn impressive for a party.

I also now know why most people don't make donuts at home.  They're seriously a lot of work!  None of the steps themselves are difficult, its when you do each after the other its an all day process.  I prepped the dough and the pastry filling before guests arrived.  Oh and did you know you can bake bismarcks?  You can!  While they don't turn out as airy as fried donuts, you really can't tell a difference.

To get the caramels in the pastry cream, I melted about a dozen of them with some milk in a saucepan so I could easily incorporate the caramel.  The melted Werther's caramels gave the pastry cream amazing flavor.  If you're not up to making donuts from scratch, definitely make the pastry cream to layer in a trifle or cake.  You'll be glad you did!

My piping hot bismarcks filled with Werther's Caramel Pastry Creme were a huge hit!  My guests loved being able to fill and top their own donuts.  My recipe made a little over a bakers dozen and they didn't last long at all.