Baking for the Bach: All Hail the Kouign

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how I mostly watched this episode for the sake of seeing Wells who is by far my favorite Bachelor franchise alum and regular. But I still had some thoughts on the rest of the episode anyway.

The episode starts with Katie and Kaitlyn chatting about her bringing Blake into the house since Kaitlyn was in a similar situation as if Katie expected anything less than the men freaking out. Meanwhile, she sends Tayshia to do her dirty work and break the news. Greg and Connor are so upset they spoon each other for comfort and Hunter makes a face so angry I was afraid he'd turn into the Hulk, if Aaron didn't first.

Blake gets the one-on-one and announces he's afraid of horse's despite his job as a Wildlife Manager. There is no way he hasn't mentioned this to the producers and they were like, Blake wants to come back, ok, we're going to create a personalized Fear Factor date for him. Let's see how he does. Well, after a little horseplay, he seemed to be doing well since we were served a montage of them rolling in the hay while the other guys agonized over him being there. Finally at dinner they actually show some of their conversation, but the reasoning behind the rose is pretty unclear right now beyond the physical connection.

Then the moment we've all—and by we, I mean I have—been waiting for...Wells! He comes out to announce the game of Bash Ball, a ridiculous game that mixes basketball and rugby and the men come out in the most ridiculous outfits I've ever seen. It's very hard to take sports seriously when the players have little hearts on their butts that remind you of Juicy Couture sweatpants. Michael A whispers, "we're gonna die" and he's almost right since he gets so injured—after the boys go from zero to 60 immediately and bring a new level of aggression—that Katie decides to call the game early and invite everyone to the cocktail party.

The group date is nice and this is probably the most we've heard from the guys on a group date that's not just about the villain of the week. Connor brings his big guns, which to him seem to be an unbuttoned shirt and a self-written song. Hunter seems cocky as hell and ends up with the group date rose, so maybe the confidence was warranted, if not a bit over the top.

Andrew S gets the second one-on-one and mentions he's been up since 7:30 and the next thing we see is Katie showing up with lanterns when it's dark out, which made me seriously hope he meant 7:30pm. Their date is cute and fun and then they have a conversation about race that's conversely serious and important. It was pretty much what you hope the week's content will be and I was impressed.

The cocktail hour before the rose ceremony is less fun and more annoying, with a few guys complaining about Hunter domineering time when he had a rose, even though the logical solution would be to go talk to her instead of whining, but maybe that's just my opinion. At least there's no drama at the ceremony this week.

After a jam-packed episode, that recap brings us to tomorrow's. Among some other tough challenges, we're promised a very exciting date with 2 queens from "RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars", Shea Coulee and Monet X Change "to help her find a king" on her group date. My version of a queen, however, is spelled a bit differently and comes in the form of a buttery, delicious pastry, which in full disclosure I've already had about 3 of.

I first discovered the Kouign Amann (pronounced queen Amann) at Dominique Ansel and I liked them better than the cronut—I know, big words. They're flakey, buttery, covered in caramelized sugar and a perfect salty sweet treat. Plus, they're kind of shaped like crowns with the corners pinched in. The version I made weren't as good as his, but they were still veryyyyy good if I do say so myself. I wanted a recipe that wouldn't take more than a day but would still taste close to the original and this one was a surefire winner. It does take almost a full day, but the result is a rich and lavish dessert fit for any type of queen. Take a day and bake away. It's worth the work!