I made the brandy snaps from The Great Canadian Baking Show

The Best of Britain Week's technical challenge looked simple enough. But the thing about brandy snaps? As Judge Rochelle warns, "There will be tears."  Each week, Anne T. Donahue attempts to recreate the technical challenge on The Great Canadian Baking Show and shares her (mis)adventures. But while this week rattled even the steadiest of bakers, she kept calm, carried on and emerged with a bake she was proud to share. Read on.

I'll be honest with you: I didn't have high hopes for brandy snaps. I failed at maple cookies, fondant fancies made me want to cry. So what were the odds that I, a person who loves to bake and is actively trying to befriend each and every baker from The Great Canadian Baking Show, would succeed with a recipe that requires you to roll out piping hot batter and fill it with cream?

And then fate dealt me a beautiful hand. A gracious hand. A hand somehow immune to the extreme heat radiating from what I took out of the oven. Because, friends: I can make brandy snaps. And I did. And I will do it again. But don't take my word for it. Read the detailed account of my victory.

00:00 — Before we begin, I should warn you: I had to make substitutions. (It's fine! They're fine! It's okay!) And not because I couldn't find pistachio paste or because I was too sick to go to the store. Mainly because I don't drink (shout out to four-and-a-half sober years) and because I'm lactose-intolerant. So instead of brandy, no brandy. And instead of whipped cream, instant vanilla pudding made with lactose-free milk.

I mean, I hear lactose-free whipped cream exists, but, like successful fondant fancies, I think it's a myth. Spoiler alert: pudding is a delicious filling that I recommend eating by the spoonful.

00:05 — So the (lactose-free) butter, sugar, and golden syrup are in a pan, getting their melt on. So far? This is easy. Who among us hasn't melted butter, sugar and golden syrup before? I mean, I don't know if I personally have (I usually make bread and cookies), but we're grain-less, nothing is burning, and I am watching The Godfather as I do this. Ladies and gentlemen, I am the Michael Corleone of baking: as in, I get it done.

And I look really determined while I do it. Which is especially appropriate because all I can think about is Sabrina comparing them to cannoli. So this is truly a full circle moment.

00:20 — I'm paying so close attention to the recipe that I stirred this syrup-sauce on low heat to the minute. Fifteen minutes specifically. (As Linda said: "Over low heat because it will burn — because it's sugar." Girl, you know it.) And, because I am a professional and no one can take that away from me, I have added the sifted (#fancy) flour to the pan and continued on my beautiful journey.

00:30 — So the thing is, they say you're supposed to throw a teaspoon of mixture onto the sheet, spread it around a bit, and bada-bing, after eight minutes you're good to try rolling it onto the spoon. But no: this is where I go rogue. This is where I channel the baking tent once and for all and use my intuition to determine when it's time to spoon roll. And I say: when they look golden, time is a flat circle and a myth and a construct and I will have no part in it.

They come out when I say they do.

00:35 — And the first batch is out! They're out! They're out and they're . . . melty? Is this right? They're like liquid? Do I wait? I will wait.

00:36 — AND HERE WE GO. Okay! Okay. They're very warm! Very, very warm. They are burning me! It's fine. It's okay! They are rolling onto the end of the spoon! I am a professional. I am doing this. I am the queen of baking. The queen of brandy snaps. The queen of my apartment. And I only have to do this 342 more times.

00:45 — Okay, look. We can kiss uniformity goodbye (especially since literally every baker in the tent rejected uniformity too — bless us, everyone) but we can kiss how amazing these taste HELLO because this is the thing: melted butter and golden syrup and sugar (and lemon water and ginger, but whatever) taste delicious.
Flavour over fancy, right James?

Yes, they harden super quickly and no, I don't know why some look the way they do, but I can tell you right now there will not be 20 because I have eaten my weight in them.

Also, because I live by myself and eating 20 brandy snaps filled with lactose-free pudding is how dangerous stomach situations begin.

00:50 — Also, I'll have you know that by the time your fingers begin to truly burn, you become immune to it. Whether it's because you're high on the joy of getting a bake totally right or because you have burned off your fingerprints, I do not know.

But look: it's fine, and I'm fine, and we're all here, and this is my passion now. And while the spoon is greasy from butter-batter and I have dropped mixture all over my stove, I have developed a foolproof system for throwing sheets in, taking sheets out, spooning out more mix, and rolling these suckers. Rochelle was right! Minus the tears. No one cries in the tent, no one cries in my house. (Ever. Emotions make me uncomfortable.) So maybe this is my calling. Maybe I make brandy snaps for a living now.

01:00 — I'm . . . ahead of my designated bake time? I've . . . made all my snaps? Guys, what is this. Who am I. What's happening. Can you believe that when you follow directions to the letter you will succeed at something? This is arguably one of the only times I have ever done that. And I'm here to say that in the case of brandy snaps, it works. It works! I've eaten five! I feel sick! I'm making pudding.

01:01 — Actually, I'm going to wipe off the stove and then I'm making pudding.

01:05 — Never underestimate the power of an instant pudding mix made with lactose-free milk. And never underestimate how quickly it's made.

01:10 — Also, never underestimate how messy it can be to put instant pudding into a piping bag because maybe you've never used a piping bag before. And maybe you should've rolled the top of the piping bag down and maybe you should've not put so much pressure on the pudding when you cut the bottom of the bag open. So maybe you quietly accept that yes, a lot of pudding is getting all over the table now, but does it ever look great in your new best friends, the brandy snaps. And while in this moment you realize that brandy is in no way related to these snaps at all, you feel absolutely fine about eating at least seven of these in between typing these sentences.

01:15 — I did it. I made brandy snaps.