Maybe I am more of a creature
of habit than I thought. As I reviewed my past Valentine’s Day recipe posts they all have one thing in common – rich, gooey, chocolate desserts. This year I’m sharing with you a recipe for Chocolate Bouchons, from a favorite Salt Lake City bakery, Tulie.
Here are some of my past Chocolate-y posts:
Flourless Chocolate Cake (Valentines 2013)
Flourless Gingersnap Chocolate Cake (Valentines 2011)
Chocolate Souffles (Valentines 2010)
Coffee Chocolate Bundt Cake with Whiskey Caramel Sauce
Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding
Chocolate Hazelnut Pie with Gingersnap Crust
Best Homemade Brownie Recipe
See… I can’t seem to get far from rich, gooey chocolate desserts this time of year!
Tulie Bakery, one of our favorite local spots, happens to be just two short blocks from our house. Josh and I try and stop in at least once a week for a special treat (their Morning Buns are to die for!) and a cup of coffee (they now serve Charming Beard!!!). No matter what time of day, Josh regularly gets a chocolate bouchon. I love this about him, so much so that I wanted to get the recipe to make these for him this Valentines Day – I may even make them for breakfast 🙂
Let me explain to you why these aren’t your ordinary breakfast treats – they are rich, chocolate cakes, with a brownie-like consistency, and melty chocolate center. They are named for their shape, which resembles a cork, or bouchon in French. Bouchons are magnificent for dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or if you’re like Josh, why wait – have them for breakfast!
The owner of Tulie, Leslie Seggar, generously shared her recipe with me. The original recipe, she explained, comes from Thomas Keller’s book Bouchon, and she has adapted it only slightly, using a different chocolate and different molds. You can find the timbale molds she uses on Amazon or Williams Sonoma. The stainless molds make the exterior crispy while the interior keeps its nearly molten consistency.
I got more than a chocolate-y recipe from Leslie, I also got a rich story of how she started baking. It all started with a birthday cake she wanted to make. When her son turned 10 years old she had in her mind the exact cake she wanted to give him but couldn’t find anything like it in the city so she decide to take the plunge and bake it herself. And that was just the beginning. She kept baking from there, teaching herself from cookbooks. Ironically, Leslie has her PhD in Clinical Psychology but found her peace in the kitchen.
The peaceful little bakery serves the Salt Lake sweet tooth well, as there is commonly a line out the door on any given day. The communal tables are filled with locals tearing into their flaky croissants and peeling the baking paper off their crumbly muffins. And Josh and I find solace here too, ordering our familiar favorite – a bouchon for him and morning bun for me. For Valentine’s this year, I will be bringing a taste of Tulie to our home kitchen (and possibly yours too!).
Thomas Keller's recipe for Chocolate Bouchons from the cookbook Bouchon.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 25 minutes mins
Total Time 45 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, French
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups + 3 tablespoons, granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 12 ounces unsalted butter, melted and still hot
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, such as Valrhona Equatoriale (55%), chopped into pieces the size of chocolate chips
- confectioners’ sugar for dusting
- 8-12 timbale molds, bouchon molds or a muffin pan*
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour timbale molds. Set aside.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a bowl; set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the eggs and sugar on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes, or until thick and very pale in color. Mix in the vanilla. On low speed, add about one-third of the dry ingredients, then one-third of the butter, and continue alternating with the remaining flour and butter. Add the chocolate and mix to combine. The batter can be refrigerated for up to a day.
Put the timbale molds on a baking sheet. Place the batter in a pastry bag without a tip, or with a large plain tip, and fill each mold about two-thirds full (or you can just spoon the batter into the molds). Place in the oven and bake for 25-28 minutes (depending on how full you fill the molds). When the tops look shiny and set (like a brownie), test one cake with a wooden skewer or toothpick: It should come out clean but not dry (there may be some melted chocolate from the chopped chocolate).
Transfer the bouchons to a cooling rack. After a couple of minutes, invert the timbale molds and let the bouchons cool upside down in the molds; then lift off the molds. The bouchons are best eaten the day they are baked. To serve, invert the bouchons and dust them with confectioners’ sugar.
Notes
Tulie Bakery uses timbale molds, while Thomas Keller recommends bouchon molds, but you can also use a standard muffin pan. If you're using a muffin pan you may want to bake them for less time (judge by how much batter is divided out into the individual muffins tins).
