Las Vegas - Bouchon Bakery

Have I mentioned how much I absolutely love Bouchon Bakery? I have their cookbook although I haven't attempted any of the recipes yet. I first fell in love with them when I went to Las Vegas in 2013. I had been meaning to try their macarons because they are so big. I've found they have the best macarons I've ever tasted to date. I haven't run into one with the infamous air pocket that many macarons tend to have. All the times I've ever baked macarons, they've always had air pockets. I use the italian meringue method and I've read that the air pockets are more common with this method.

Anyway, I became absolutely obsessed with Bouchon after my mom one day decided to get their Better Nutter cookie. She's not exactly a fan of peanut butter, yet she wanted to try it and I've never seen her love a cookie so much. This is a very decadent cookie. Peanut butter cookie with bits of peanuts with a peanut butter buttercream filling, which I believe is italian meringue buttercream. I dream about this cookie. It's so nutty and buttery and the buttercream filling hits every sweet spot in my body. I choose this over their macarons. Seriously. If there is one cookie you try from Bouchon, get the Better Nutter.

I've read a lot about their TKO cookie which is a gourmet take on the Oreo. It's a chocolate butter cookie with a white chocolate ganache filling. I had high expectations of this cookie and was rather let down. The cookie itself is delicious, with strong quality cocoa flavor. The cookie was a little bit softer than I had expected it to be - it actually fell apart when I tried to break off a piece. The white chocolate ganache was simple. I prefer a little more vanilla flavor but it was more biased towards the cocoa butter flavor. This does inspire me to attempt the same cookie base with a white chocolate ganache using El Rey's Icoa non-deoderized white chocolate though. If I do, I'll definitely post the recipe if it turns out well.

Oh but their coffee. My oh my, do they make a rich mocha. They use a quality cocoa powder and it shines in their mocha! It gives off notes of coconut which is how I like my chocolate. It's also a little bit dark and complements their espresso roast so well. If you're not into the rich mocha taste, their americano is rich and creamy too, without the cream!

Bouchon Bakery has the best value on the Vegas strip. We got two big cookies, an iced mocha, a regular coffee, and also a baguette and the total all came to just under $17. These are not just regular cookies, they are gourmet cookies so I consider that a steal on the strip or anywhere else. Try it, you'll fall in love. I wish there was a Bouchon Bakery here in Houston. My other wish is a Jean Phillipe Patisserie - will post more on that later.