chocolate shortbread cookies from thomas keller's bouchon bakery

part 1 of 2 of my christmas gift to my coworkers.  

i knew that i wanted to bake something for christmas presents but i just didn't know what.  i thought about cupcakes, cookies, bars.... but all the portions seemed too big.  i wanted something bite-sized and easily packaged so that i could have a present for everyone.  

chocolate bouchons from thomas keller's bouchon bakery

rich. decadent. chocolate. bouchons. with ice cream.  all i can say is yum.

brioche au chocolat from joanne chang's flour bakery

i had half a batch of brioche dough from when i made sticky buns sitting in the freezer.  i needed to the freezer space so i looked in joanne chang's flour: spectacular recipes from boston's flour bakery + cafe to find something suitable to make with the other half of the dough.  i love chocolate so i naturally i choose a recipe entitled "brioche au chocolat"

what is this? to put it simply, its chocolate bread.  it takes some advanced preparation but this pastry can be made in 5 simple steps. continue reading to find steps 1 through 4

step 6: enjoy!

pasty cream. flour bakery style.

part 1 to making brioche au chocolate.  pastry cream.  knowing how to make a good pastry cream is important since it is the foundation for so many desserts.  

all finished! ( please excuse the bad lighting )

cookbook library -- flour: spectacular recipes from boston's flour bakery + cafe.

my first and only visit to joanne chang's flour bakery was in november 2011 when my boyfriend mentioned these delicious sticky buns he used to get on his walk to work back when he lived in boston.   he told me that these said sticky buns competed against bobby flay on the food network's throwdown and won.  after that i was convinced.

we strolled in around noon and the line was out the door!  that was a sign that this place had to be good.  and i was right.  before i knew it i had a mouthwateringly, gooey sticky bun in my hands.  i left flour that day with my tummy feeling very satisfied and my heart feeling very happy.

it wasn't soon after that we discovered that she had a cookbook.  i was so in love with the bakery that i had to have it.  and so may i present to you....