SHF #27: Thomas Keller's Chocolate Bouchons

I'm beginning to wonder. Is there something wrong with me? Because I'm having trouble with Thomas Keller's recipes and I can't help but think that I might be the only person in the world with these problems. First, the green beans in whipped cream, then these chocolate cakelets which are lovely to look at, yes, but almost inedibly salty. It seems that Thomas Keller is a kitchen god to everyone but me. Can that really be?

Inspired by the adorable little chocolate corks bobbing around at Molly's house the other day, I dug through my folders to emerge triumphant with Keller's recipe for a similar confection that was published in the Los Angeles Times several years ago. I'd been hanging on to it for a long while now, waiting for timbale molds to come into my possession. But after Molly wrote about her bouchons, I was overcome with the oddest sensation that if I didn't immediately go home and make my own batch of bouchons, I might possibly faint and die.

That ever happen to you?

So, armed with a block of fresh butter and two bars of Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate (it's the only baking chocolate besides Baker's - and I refuse to use Baker's - that I can get at the grocery store closest to my apartment. I end up using Ghirardelli's for a lot of my chocolate baking and I'm usually quite pleased with it. It's cheaper than Scharffen Berger and though it might be lacking somewhat in complexity, I am pinching pennies around here these days.), I whipped up an impossibly thick and fudgy chocolate batter. Have you ever even seen a recipe that calls for an entire cup of cocoa powder?

Instead of using timbale molds, I filled a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and plopped the rich, luscious batter down into each cup. In the oven, the cakelets rose and cracked beautifully, just like those infamous Belgian Brownies. Waiting for them to cool was pleasant torture.

And when I finally broke open a cooled bouchon, I found a dark, cakey brownie-like interior, studded with glossy craters of melting chocolate. But when I bit in, what I tasted was s.a.l.t. And not as a faint background note that makes chocolate taste fruity and complex, or that transforms caramel into something deeper and more nuanced. No, I had a bite of salty chocolate cake in my mouth and it wasn't exactly pleasant.

The cakes weren't salvaged by vanilla ice-cream or confectioner's sugar - neither could properly cloak the saltiness. And after I did a little web research, I came up with this item, which makes me wonder. Clearly, other people have had problems with this recipe. But is the culprit really the faulty amount of sugar? I actually liked the balance of sugar and chocolate - these are grown-up cakelets and shouldn't be too sweet. I think the problem lies more with the salt. If you feel the urge to make these, try the recipe below with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Let me know how it works out if you do.

If you're wondering, I did finish that bouchon, and I brought another one to work the next day, thinking that an overnight rest might help the situation. It didn't. So I'm left with a freezerful of salty chocolate cake, a small case of aggression, and a few questions. What is it with me and Thomas Keller? Am I ever going to find a recipe of his that works? Who is going to eat my salty chocolate bouchons? And where I can get a replacement chocolate fix in the meantime?

Chocolate Bouchons
Makes 16 2-inch bouchons

Butter and flour for the timbale molds
3/4 cup flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 eggs
3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
24 tablespoons (12 ounces) unsalted butter, melted, just slightly warm
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into pieces the size of chocolate chips
Confectioner's sugar

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 16 (2-ounce) timbale molds or fleximolds. Set aside. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl; set aside.

2. In the bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, or in another large bowl if using a hand-held mixer, mix the eggs and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until very pale in color. Mix in the vanilla.

3. 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.)

4. 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 two-thirds full.

5. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. 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).

6. 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 confectioner's sugar. Serve with ice cream if desired.

Comments

[Sally]

I borrowed the extremely large Bouchon cookbook from a co-worker and made these little chocolate treats. I, too, was disappointed. I found the flavor harsh and unpleasant, not beguiling and wonderful. I shall tinker with the amount of sugar and salt as you have. (After my disappointment w/these, I returned the cookbook w/out trying other recipes. I wonder if I'll be happier w/a more recent version of the book that has been refined with editing. The quiche recipes looked fantastic.)

[David]

I see chocolate bread pudding in your future! A bit of milk, a few eggs, a handful of dried cherres, and some chunks of salty bouchons. Voila!

Thanks for the great entry, Luisa (as always)! x

[Lydia]

First of all, throw out those salty cakes -- what a disappointment! Your photo is luscious. Too bad the bouchons don't live up to it.

[Marce]

Ouch, it just sucks when you dream about a recipe for months, wait for it to cool (that part is pretty hard) and then end up very disappointed.
My first suggestion for the leftovers would be to break them up and use them as a layer in a triffle, topped with a cranberry marmalade and a white chocolate cream/mousse would be my first idea. You could even use some sort of syrup to moisten the bouchon layer and help balance out the salty taste.

[Patricia Scarpin]

Oh, Luisa, I'm sorry for your bouchons. It looks great, I have to say.

I once baked a carrot muffin recipe and had the same problem - it was so salty I had to drink some water immediately after eating it.

I'm not comparing a simple carrot muffin to this beautiful recipe, just wanted to let you know I've been there and it's awful. :(

[Heather]

I haven't made these, but just a thought... The measurements of kosher salt can vary by quite a bit between brands. Your brand may have added much more salt in weight for the same volume as the brand used by the recipe. http://www.copia.org/content/node/231

[Abby]

I was just about to ask about the use of kosher salt - size and how it dissolves and such - but I see Heather already mentioned it.

I vaguely remember something on America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated about the use of kosher salt and how brands vary.

Could the size of the grains make a difference in how it ultimately tastes? (Total amateur here.)

[km]

Luisa,
See this is why I am so fearful of baking! At least with cooking you can stick a finger in and taste.

Salty cake suggestion- Toastem up and make a Banoffee pie. I think the salty & caramel could be really good.

km

[Molly]

Oh NO! I'm so sad to hear of your salty bouchons, my friend. Thomas Keller is going DOWN - right there, in fact, with Mark Bittman, whose "everyday pancakes" I made this morning. They were terrible - utterly tasteless, and in desperate need of salt. It was a very bad morning. I mean, how can pancakes be so aggressively sub-par? Maybe Mark Bittman should take some hints from Thomas Keller where salt is concerned, and vice versa. Sigh.

xo

[Leland]

The same salt problem happened to me this weekend with some Mark Bittman blueberry muffins, but I think it was my fault for being a bit heavyhanded with the salt. I get it from my mother.

What is wrong with Baker's chocolate, by the way? I have been using it for the last few weeks, but I'm such a baking virgin that I wouldn't know if it was lousy. Those little one-ounce packets are certainly convenient.

[shauna]

Luisa, I have to say -- I have been disappointed in every Thomas Keller recipe I have cooked. The Chef brought the huge, fancy French Laundry cookbook with him into this house, and I was so proud. But two of the recipes I made turned out just okay. Maybe it's all for show, and he doesn't really want to give away his secrets.

Bread pudding. Yes.

[Virtual Frolic]

Oh my, that's terrible that they tasted so horrible. Do you think it's the kosher salt that's the problem? I've often read that kosher salt shouldn't be used in sweet dishes. I once made biscuits using kosher salt - and yes, I liked that they were salty - but they were overkill. I drank 2 glasses of water per one small biscuit!

[lobstersquad]

oh, yes, the might faint and die thing. I thought I´d invented that, you make me feel much easier in my mind. I´ve got magdalenas on my mind these days, will have to do something about that.

[shuna fish lydon]

what brand of kosher salt are you using?

please remember that TK is not a pastry chef.

after going to the bakery in yountville many times I have figured out that they make very strange choices about what and how to change what works and what doesn't... it's odd indeed.

I use kosher salt in much of my baking-- and just by looking at the recipe I don't see the problem. But not all brands are the same... email me and let me know. we'll see if we can't brainstorm.

[Erin]

I thought I was the only one who had problems with Thomas Keller and for ages I thought that my cooking skills had all of a sudden vanished. If you ever find one of his recipes that actually works let me know, my bouchons looked tasty but I wouldn't have fed them to my worst enemy they were so salty. I have even tried different types of salt but have yet to find one that tastes ok.

[Julie]

I recently made Pierre Hermé's chocolate cookies with bittersweet chocolate pieces and his recipe which has almost as much butter but only 2/3 of a cup of cocoa and no eggs uses 2 1/2 teaspoons of fleur de sel but while you are aware of the salt the cookies don't taste salty. It's interesting that the bouchons ended up tasting salty with much less salt although I too wonder if that's not somehow to do with kosher salt having a sharper salt taste.

The recipe I used is here: http://foodandwine.com/recipes/chocolate-chocolate-chip-cookies

[Luisa]

Sally - Russ Parsons wrote a piece in the LAT about Keller's quiche recipes and RAVED about them, so of course they're in my clippings binder and I always plan on making one but never have... anyway, they come highly praised.

David - oh, thank goodness for you. What a great idea! Can't wait to try this.

Lydia - Well, now I'm going to try salvaging the bouchons in a bread pudding, fingers crossed!

Marce - that's a tasty idea, too.

Patricia - it IS awful, isn't it? I don't think it matters what you've made - it's always the same disappointment.

Heather - interesting, thanks for that link. I use the same brand of kosher salt in all of my baking recipes that call for kosher salt, and I've never had this problem before. I wondered if regular table salt would be a better substitute...

Abby - I'm sure that the grain size has some effect on the final product. Though, again, since I've never had problems with my particular brand of kosher salt, I'm not sure that's the issue here. Would that it were!

KM - don't be afraid of baking! There are so many trustworthy bakers out there to make recipes from. Who would never lead you astray! I promise ;) Your Banoffee Pie idea is totally divine.

Molly - oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. Nothing like thwarted weekend breakfast plans to really ruin your day. Well, my frustration with Bittman is well-documented here so I feel your pain. Here's to better pancakes and chocolate cakelets in the future!

Leland - Baker's Chocolate tastes sort of gritty and stale to me. The chocolate flavor never blooms in the final product, and I don't know. The chocolate cake or brownies or whatever you end up making never taste very special... Maybe time for an Eat Chocolate Bakeoff? :)

Shauna - isn't that interesting? I am glad to hear I'm not alone. I think you might have a point in his not wanting to share his prized secrets (which is fine, really, but then don't write a book!). And yes, I agree: Bread Pudding Now.

Virtual Frolic - I've used kosher salt in lots of sweet baking recipes and it's always been fine. I've also used table salt with no problems. I really think it's the quantity that matters more than anything.

Ximena - I was beginning to wonder that I might be all alone on that point?! :)

Shuna - of course, now I can't remember which brand of kosher salt I used... I'll let you know. Doesn't TK have pastry chefs working for him that presumably helped him with his books?

Erin - I'm relieved to hear I'm not alone, either with my dislike of his recipes, or with a bag of salty bouchons staring at me balefully every time I open the freezer. So you made those bouchons more than once? Plucky girl.

Julie - I think those are similar (if not the same as) Dorie Greenspan's Korova cookies which she got from Herme. And yes, there's a lot of salt in that recipe, but it works PERfectly there - the cookies are so totally amazing and complex and delicious. Just goes to show that there are bakers out there you can trust.

[s'kat]

Luisa, it's such a shame to be so hopeful about a recipe, only to discover it was a waste of time and ingredients.

On the other hand, I am going to be singing Chef's "Chocolate Salty Balls" song for the rest of the day.

[Jeff]

A lot of cookbook recipes are approximations not imperical truths

[Bee]

I made a very salty Scharffen Berger chocolate mousse one time (visually gorgeous), but unless my brother just rearranged your kitchen cupboards as he had done to mine, I don't think that it's the same problem - thank goodness for bread pudding, I didn't even try to salvage mine.

Bee

[teri]

So disappointing to hear! I have cooked only from Bouchon (although I have the FL cookbook) and have had nothing but success with the recipes I have tried (in particular, his roast chicken has become my roast chicken). But I do think of it as more of a savory cookbook - as Shuna said, maybe sweets are not his strong suit (although the lemon tart from the Bouchon cookbook is divine). In any case, your photo is gorgeous if that's any consolation!

[Veron]

This bouchons look adorable! I have seen this recipe in his book. That does seem like an awful lot of salt for this, I would kick that back to just 1/4 teaspoon. Salt is used to just bring out the flavors of chocolate and not compete with it.

[pembeli]

Çok güzel gözüküyor harikaa

[Marc]

I know Keller uses Diamond brand Kosher salt in all recipes calling for Kosher salt. It's much different than any of the others. It's flakier and takes up more space - so, if you used Morton's, etc you may have actually used too much salt in comparison. They should list weights - that's the only sure way to know.

[Luisa]

Marc - I used Diamond brand, actually. I checked the other night...

[kerry]

not two hours ago i completed keller's recipe for quiche lorraine and quiche florentine. it might be technique--hell, i'll bet it is technique-- but my quiches were disastrous. i'm pretty good in the kitchen, but i couldn't get these babies to turn out right. both of the crusts cracked (despite careful patching) and the custard oozed all over the baking sheets i used. the custard was also very, very salty, and i had a ton of the liquid left over after filling the crusts. i fear thomas keller and i don't get along. =(

[maris]

I find that the fine grained salts, like Mortons, work best in baking. Perhaps they dissolve sooner and blend in better with the other ingrediants. Coarser grained salts are wonderful for coating meats, breads, veggies, etc., .....any place you're willing to really taste, see, and feel it. This same logic applies to sugars.

[Lynn]

Thank you so much for warning me about the Thomas Keller chocolate bouchon recipe. I had planned to make it for my Christmas Eve dessert after seeing the recipe published in the LA Times, and was looking on line for timbale molds when I came across your site and subsequent warning. I'm nixing the idea and will return with something tried and true. Thanks again!

[Michael]

My wife & I just made these bouchons a few nights ago and they were FANTASTIC! However, we cheated - we bought a pre-made mix of Keller branded chocolate bouchons from Williams-Sonoma.

I found this thread with Google, as I was looking for a cheaper alternative to buying them again (at $18!) I'm sad to hear of all the trouble that this recipe has caused, and I'll try vutting back on the salt content to see if I get good results. We got rid of the Williams-Sonoma container the mix came in, so I'll have to go back to the store to examine (and decrypt) the ingredients list.

However - a quick trick to make these little "corks" look even better than the tasty picture at the top - use a mini cheesecake pan with removable bottoms. The bouchons come out perfectly shaped and ready for a light shower of confectioners sugar.

[Miriam]

I just saw a discrepency in the Keller recipe's on-line. One (as did yours) called for 3/4 cup and 2 Tablespoons of sugar and another (published by Keller himself) called for 1 1/2 plus 3 tablespoons of sugar. Perhaps this is the problem. I am about to make the latter and I will write of my results.

[Jay]

In researching recipes online I found that yours varied greatly in that it called for a full cup less sugar than another recipe I found for bouchons. In fact, another recipe was identical to your except for the sugar. Typo?

[Marco Andres]

I tried the same recipe last night. The ones for Bouchons with melted semisweet chocolate are much better, but the tops deflate - so you need to cool them upside down and make them in silicone molds. The variant you made are really good made in small canelle molds.

Here is the recipe from the back of the bouchon silicone mold package.

Makes 12 Bouchons (or mini-muffins).

Ingredients
-----------
3 oz of semisweet chocolate
5 tablespoons of cocoa
1/3 cup of flour
2/3 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt (sea salt)
5 tablespoons of butter
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method - makes 12 bouchon
------
Preheat oven to 350.

Get pastry tube or plastic "sealable" freezer bag to use as pastry tube, cutting off one point to make a hole 1/2 inch in diameter.

If using silicone molds do nothing, if using minimuffin tins use paper liners.

Melt chocolate with butter and cool to slightly warm.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together and set aside.

Whip the eggs and sugar together until ribbons form. (3 minutes)

Fold in the melted chocolate and butter mixture.

Fold in the cocoa-flour mixture.

Place the batter in a pastry bag with no tip or in a freezer bag (closing the "sealable" end). Fill the molds 2/3 full. If you have leftover batter that is fine. If you fill them too full the Bouchons will form large muffin tops that will collapse and be difficult to remove.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is slightly set (like brownies). Place a wire rack over the top pan, invert and cool them upside down on the rack in the molds. When they are cool, remove (silicone is really easy to remove). They fit perfectly in this item from JB Prince (about half the price of the bouchons and they are really cute with ridged edges -- they may make 18.

http://www.jbprince.com/flexible-silicone-molds/orange-non-stick-18-mini-cannele.asp
--------
Mark

[jayne cookson]

I just purchased a Bouchon silicone mold from Williams-Sonoma and prepared the recipe from the back of the package that it came in. No problem with the recipe. Great taste...but how to get the bouchons out of the mold in one piece. 9 out of 12 broke as I very gently removed them from the mold according to the instructions.
Jayne

[jayne cookson]

I used two scoops with my 1 T. ice cream scooper to fill each receptacle as the instructions said to put 2 T. in each receptacle. There was enough batter for 2 extra bouchons..alas, the batter was eaten. Jayne

[jayne cookson]

I prepared 1" strips of parchment paper, 6 inches long for my next batch, to possibly solve the problem of lifting the bouchons out in one piece. Jayne

[jayne cookson]

Regarding parchment strips: lay them down in each
receptacle before pouring batter.

Williams sonoma calls for only 1/8 tsp. salt (any kind)

Jayne

[jayne cookson]

Jb Prince's price for their 18 hole Canelli mold is good, but they have a $300. minimum and ship from NYC.
Jayne

[Sarah]

I got the JB Prince silicon molds on Amazon.com for a gret price (I got both sizes and love both) and I followed the original Thomas Keller recipe to the letter and got PERFECT, PRIZE WINNING bouchons. And I think I've made them 6-7 times now. A few key things, I use vahlrona unsweetened coca powder and Diamond brand kosher salt, regular size large eggs, unsalted butter (once used Plugra) and a few other times I used Cabot and Whole Foods brand. They have come out PERFECT every single time and I almost feel bad about it. And once I'm done making the mix, it put it into a ziploc bag and pipe half into the silocon molds and stick the rest into the fridge for day two. I don't have problems with them bursting out the top, I only fill the molds 2/3 full and really bang the molds on the counter to get out the air bubbles, then I set them on a nice cookie sheet. I also put them on a rack the second them come out of the oven and then turn them upside down after 5-6 mintes and gently tap the molds until they release. I really can't wait for them to cool completely.

[Greg]

My internet research indicates that the amount of sugar in your recipe is WRONG!!! Check it out. It should be twice as much.

[Laurence Cagnon]

My bouchons came out great with the same recipe! The only thing I did not measure was the salt because I use a grinder, but the amount looks about right.
I used chocolate drops, and don't have to worry about cutting the chocolate. I made the recipe 3 times and always had success with it!

[Chris]

I have been refining my making of these after much disappointment, and have finally achieved what I taste as pretty close to perfection (I've had them from Bouchon itself). Following Keller's advice(in the Ad Hoc book) about how Morton's kosher is heavier per cup,than Diamond, I used about 2/3-3/4 of the teaspoon of Morton's Kosher, whip the hell out of the eggs and sugar initially(5-6 minutes in kitchenaid on medium) put the silicone mold on a thick aluminum baking sheet to lessen the heat that the mold receives from below, and REALLY tried to avoid overcooking them(I have been disappointed with their harsh,almost burnt chocolate richness in the past); I think I ended up at around 22 minutes in the oven(I tested with a wood sliver initially). I then let them cool a couple minutes in the mold, turned it over on the cooling rack, and then cool the mold down again by waving it in the air before I piped in the batter again(My Grandma's advice from when we baked cookies- cool the sheet!). I also used "equal exchange" coco rather than Hersheys, and Guittard chocolate chips rather than chopping chocolate, which to me is a waste of time in this case....Man those suckers are good now; I want to have them on hand every day! I've never made them, but Keller's French Macaroons are ridiculously great, too. Good luck to all of you!

[ELPORCO]

YOU ARE NOT USING THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF SUGAR REQUIRED FOR THE RECIPIE. YOU NEED 1.5 CUPS NOT 3/4 CUPS AS YOU HAVE BEEN USING.