Translation: Chocolate to Die For

Courtesy of the Williams-Sonoma kitchen, right off the back of a box holding a Bouchon Silicone Baking Mold for little cakes that look like wine corks. The French word for cork is bouchon. My JP saw a picture of delectable little chocolate cakes dusted with powdered sugar and couldn't resist. The baking mold, recipe included, landed under the Christmas tree with a card that said To Mom with love.
I finally broke open the box and freed up the mold for first use last night using the recipe exactly as called for. Well, almost exactly. I substituted a whole Lindt 3.5 ounce Chili Chocolate bar for the 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate -- quite sure that any good dark chocolate would do and I was correct. Believe me when I tell you that if you love deep, rich chocolate taste, you'll be hooked on chocolate corks.

CHOCOLATE CORKS

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces

1/3 cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of salt

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the bouchon mold with your favorite cooking spray and set the greased mold on a baking sheet (you can use a mini-muffin tin but I highly recommend investing in the real thing).

Place butter and chocolate pieces into a heatproof bowl and microwave about 1 minute, or until just melted. Stir once. Let cool 10 minutes.

In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a third bowl, whisk together sugar, egg and vanilla until well mixed and uniformly light yellow in color. Add melted chocolate and butter mixture and whisk briskly until well combined. Add flour and cocoa mixture and mix well.

Scoop two tablespoons of the batter into each well of the mold. Transfer the mold, still on the baking sheet, to the oven and bake until the tops of the chocolate corks are shiny and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, about 20-22 minutes of baking time.

Remove from oven and place the mold on a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Carefully invert the mold to remove the chocolate corks and turn them right-side up on the rack for another half hour before dusting with confectioners' sugar. Makes 12 to die for chocolate corks.