Baking Bouchon - Recipe 41: Bouchons

Holy Crap... this is my 100th blog post.  I can't believe it's happened so fast.  I started this blog about four and a half months ago and I couldn't possibly having any more fun.  I am baking more than ever because you all give me an excuse.  I have to have something to blog about so if I'm ever bored, I just bake something... anything.

I promised myself I would be completely honest with my blog posts and tell you when I screw up.  In fact, some of my favorite posts are the ones when things go wrong which typically involves me burning food or myself.   If it's OK with you guys I'll keep up the cooking, baking and posting even if it is sometimes hazardous to my health.

I thought it would be quite fitting that my 100th post be on Bouchons which is the namesake cake of Thomas Keller's bakery and cookbook.  Just think how amazing something needs to be for you to name a whole bakery after it.  Imagine my disappointment when I learned these are just brownies.  I know, right?

Don't get me wrong, these are very good brownies.  They're fudgy and dark chocolately and have chocolate chips in them.  I like them a lot but they're just brownies.

The batter is relatively easy to assemble... you mix together flour and cocoa powder.  You whisk together eggs, sugar and vanilla paste.  You add butter and the dry ingredients and mix in the chocolate chips.  Pretty simple.

I went ahead and bought the silicone mold that is required to make these.  The shape resembles a cork or bottle stopper, which is "bouchon" in French.  There's your language lesson for today.

For your amusement today you can see above that I had a small issue.  I baked the bouchons for the recommended amount of time and let them cool a little bit before I unmolded them.  Ummm, they definitely were not done.  The middles were completely gooey.  For a whole 30 seconds I contemplated leaving them that way.  I have no problem eating half baked dough but then I reconsidered, did my best to shove them back in the molds and put them back in the oven.  Luckily they came out just fine after the second bake.

So, Happy 100th post my dear readers.  I hope you find the next 100 as enjoyable as the first.  I promise they will contain approximately 50 pounds of butter and sugar, 100 pounds of flour and at least a couple of vegetables.

Oh yeah, and it's also Independence Day - Happy Birthday USA - love ya! 

Enjoy!
Julie