Bouchon Bouchons

That whole chicken and cauliflower gratin got me down. How could I possibly have turned out such a miserable failure of a dinner?

It's happened before. And it especially happened when I was learning to cook, teaching myself techniques slowly. Mostly using Laurel's Kitchen vegetarian cookbook. Mostly then I was learning to fall in love with cooking.

While the Bouchon salmon and leeks were a success, they weren't overwhelmingly fabulous. I was hoping the chocolate would save the day.

Chocolate and three sticks of butter, that is.

Butter, Wonderful ButterI whipped these Bouchons (French for plug or cork) up one morning before heading to a gathering of friends. I actually measured the dry ingredients the night before, and set the butter out on the counter to heat to room temperature. Given that the butter had been in the freezer, it was a good decision. It just took a couple short spins in the microwave for the butter to be sufficiently melted.

Dry IngredientsThe recipe calls for fancy molds. You can even buy Bouchon specific molds at Williams-Sonoma. Not me.

Because these are described as being like a brownie, I did what I've been doing with packaged brownie mix: I spooned the batter into a pan of many squares.

Jasmine Inspects The PanI definitely applied quality control standards and ensured the batter was sufficiently chocolatey and tastey. This was more like a frosting: light, even airy. Must be all the butter.

Chocolate Chips Added To BatterI took a quick picture, sampled along with the ice cream, and headed out to greet my friends - complete with warm bouchons and vanilla ice cream. Together, we savored the light chocolate dessert. And I was happy that I'd found one recipe from Bouchon that really rocked my world.

Chocolate Bouchons

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Heaven, Bar Cookie Style

You know I have a thing for bar cookies, right?

This is an old recipe, found in a cookbook when I was a teenager. I've been making it ever since then. And, despite the fact that my younger sister gets grouchy when she doesn't get carded, it's been a very long time since I was a teenager, so I've made these for years. And I giggle a little if and when I do get carded.

Anyway, I had a craving for the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. I tried some chocolate brownies with peanut butter frosting last week, but the brownie part wasn't satisfying. The frosting was.  Even peanut butter M & M's didn't satisfy my craving.

It's also too early to beg for holiday Buckeye's from mom, so I decided to make the Peanut Butter Fingers. I mixed up the base ingredients of butter, sugar, egg, peanut butter, flour, oatmeal and baking soda.

And I used all white sugar, instead of a mixture of white and brown sugar; this changed the texture and taste slightly. I tasted several times to be sure it was acceptably peanut buttery, then patted into a 13x9 pan. And realized I'd forgotten the vanilla. Oh well, the base was still yummy.

As that was baking, I measured layer #2: dark chocolate chips. I tasted a few to be sure they were OK.

Layer #3 with these cookies is a peanut butter glaze made from powdered sugar, peanut butter, and milk. I didn't have milk, so substituted whipping cream (which I bought for a recipe I never made.) This made the mixture thicker, more like a frosting - it's usually a more runny glaze consistency.

While waiting for the cookie base to come out of the oven, I tasted the frosting repeatedly to ensure complete peanut buttery satisfaction.

The cookie base came out of the oven and I poured on the chocolate chips. And applied quality control standards to the frosting.

I spread the chocolate chips all over the cookie base. And tasted the frosting.

Then, I tasted the frosting and spread the frosting over the melted chocolate chips. I also licked the spatula as needed  to ensure quality control.

I had a little frosting left over, so made sure was still delicious. These are easy to make because you can get away with mixing the base in one bowl, and turn around and make the frosting in the same bowl a little later.

Just be sure that you test repeatedly throughout the baking process to ensure they're as good as I think they are!

Peanut Butter Fingers

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
2-4 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan and set aside; I have also made these cookies successfully in a jelly roll pan. The 13x9 pan makes the base thicker, while with the jelly roll pan the base will be thinner.

Cream together the butter and sugars, along with the egg, peanut butter, and baking soda. Then mix in the flour and oatmeal. The mixture should be fairly stiff. Pat into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.

While the base is baking, make and repeatedly taste test the frosting by combining the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup peanut butter, and milk until smooth.

When the base comes out of the oven, pour chocolate chips over. Let stand until the chips are melted and spread over the base. Wait just a bit longer and drizzle with peanut butter glaze. Devour.