bouchons

Meaning corks in french, these brownie-cakes are bites from chocolate heaven!

I first had one in 2004 at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, California.

It was love at first bite—deep, intense chocolate flavor, moist interior, slightly soft center, and rich, rich, rich!

The mixes used to be sold at Williams Sonoma, but now they just sell the timbale molds.  

With the mold comes the recipe with which to recreate this fantastic mouthful of yumminess.

One of the twelve didn't make it out in one piece-

guess who had to take care of it?

Bouchons

from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces

⅓ cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

⅔ cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Set the Bouchon Silicone Baking Mold on a baking sheet.  (Alternatively, you can use a mini-muffin tin, lined with paper liners. If doing so, decrease baking time to 10-12 minutes.)

Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and microwave until melted, about 1½ minutes, stirring once.  Alternatively, in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and chocolate and heat, stirring occasionally, until melted.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

In a bowl, sift the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg and vanilla until well combined.  Add the chocolate mixture and whisk until incorporated.  Whisk in the flour mixture until combined.

Scoop 2 tablespoons of the batter into each well of the mold.  Transfer the old, still on the baking sheet, to the oven and bake until the tops of the chocolate corks are shiny and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 20 to 22 minutes.  (I always check early!)

Transfer the mold to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes.  Carefully invert the mold to remove the chocolate corks and turn them right-side up on the rack.  Let cool on the rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.  Dust with confectioners' sugar.  Serve warm (best choice) or at room temperature.

Makes 12 chocolate corks.