#46 - Chocolate Bouchons

Tonight, we had some people over to play games and hang out, and it was kind of a last-minute decision, so we had to whip up something for everybody. We thought we'd go with dessert, so we whipped up these brownie-esque snacks courtesy a friendly culinary rodent.

Chocolate Bouchons

From What's Cooking?
We can't remember how/why we got it, but we have a Ratatouille cookbook for kids, and that's where we found this recipe. But just because the book was written for children doesn't mean it was a simple recipe - this one had 3 stars, meaning "Master Chef" difficulty. So there.

Since these bouchons are a lot like brownies, you can probably guess the main ingredients: chocolate, eggs, butter, flour, and sugar.
It's just those ingredients don't always get along when they're on the counter.
This recipe's got a lot of mixing and stirring, but the hardest part was sifting all the cocoa powder with our less-than-stellar sifter.
Once you've got the batter all set, you scoop it into baking cups like you're making cupcakes, and pop them in the oven. And what makes this a "Master Chef" recipe is the little sprinkle of powdered sugar at the end.
These were a very good dessert. They were super chocolatey and fudgy and dense, and that means they'd be extra good with some vanilla ice cream. Or you can leave them as is if you're a chocoholic; we don't judge.

Also, they were probably a little bit too big since they were so rich, so maybe use mini-muffin tins if you have them.
Act like a rat, and do this:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 sticks unsalted butter melted and just slightly warmed
• 6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• Confectioners' sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tray with 12 baking cups.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.
3. In another large bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar with a handheld mixer on medium speed until very pale in color, for about 3 minutes.
4. Mix in the vanilla.
5. On low speed, add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then 1/3 of the butter, and continue alternating with the remaining flour and butter.
6. Add the chocolate and mix to combine.
7. Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean but not dry; the tops should look shiny and set.
9. Transfer the bouchons in their liners to a cooling rack.
10. Wait several minutes, then invert the bouchons and let them cool upside down in their liners.
11. Lift off the liners.
12. Invert the bouchons and dust them with confectioners' sugar.