Kirsch Baba Bouchons with Pluots | My Paris Kitchen

Every word of this title, kirsch baba buchons with pluots, except the word with, needs an explanation. Where do I start? To mix things up—just enough to be interesting—let’s start with the last word: pluots. A pluot or plumcot is a hybrid fruit that is three quarters plum and one quarter apricot. They are making their first appearance on this blog. I found the so-called “dandy candy,” or naturally sweet dapple pluots, stacked high and featured prominently at the entrance of Trader Joe’s. You can’t miss them; I grabbed two boxes of pluots a few days ago.

Couldn’t wait to taste the pluots. I don’t seem to have enough stone fruits: apricots, peaches and plums in the brief summer season. Now you guess what’s my fruit choice for the kirsch babas – pluots. For the rest of the year, pineapple will suffice.

 

 

I have a bouchon silicone mold, which is created by Thomas Keller (author of Bouchon Bakery) and sold at William-Sonoma. This is a special-purpose mold, making small cork shape cakes. I reach for the bouchon mold whenever I want to make miniature and delicate cakes. Bigger cakes may evoke drama, but the little ones have all the charm. Their small size makes them irresistible to grab and to eat. Looks like the perfect recipe and occasion to prepare babas—shaped in bouchons. For a change, even my husband agrees with me on this count.

 

 

Babas are yeast cakes saturated with syrup, spiked with hard liquor. They are very popular in France. And they are classic, known to be around for about three hundred years. I made rum babas a while ago and liked them. Making another version of babes, this time with kirsch, is exciting.

 

 

I bought an inexpensive bottle of kirsch. Soon after, I looked into David Lebovitz’s recipe and on his blog and realized that he specified the pricier kirsch, not what I bought. He says in no uncertain terms: “If I had to name five items that are obligatory in my baking repertoire, after The Big Four (sugar, butter, flour, and eggs), a bottle of kirsch is essential for me, right up there with vanilla, vying for numéro 5.” Furthermore, he explains that the reason why kirsch costs so much is because it takes about 20-30 pounds of cherries to make a bottle. We know how expensive cherries are. So, no argument from me. I needed and found a good quality Kirsch, fermented and distilled from black forest cherries from Germany.

Gathered together the pluots, the bouchon mold and kirsch, the time has come to start making the babas. Babas are not quick cakes. Yeast cakes, which these babas are, take time to ferment. The dough needs mixing in a stand-mixer for several minutes, resting for an hour and then kneading some more. After the initial rise, the second rise generally takes another hour in the molds. I made half of the recipe. Consequently, I shortened the time for the second rise, rightly or wrongly, since the dough expanded and reached the top of the molds. Meanwhile, baking time in the oven took about 15 minutes, as expected. However, the babsa looked underbaked.

While the baba bouchons were resting, I started sautéing the pluots in a skillet with brown sugar. Next, I made the simple syrup (2 parts water to 1 part sugar). Stirred in the kirsch (15% of the syrup-liquor mix) as the syrup was removed from the heat.

It didn’t take long for all the kirsch baba bouchons with pluots to disappear on us. They are simply too cute and each is a perfect bite, even if you are not a fan of desserts. Corked, the babas will perk up the end of a meal. They make for a convivial party. Uncorked and without the babas, the bottle of kirsch will no doubt perpetuate the jovial spirits.

For more cues on the kirsch babas from our friends at Cook-the-Book-Fridays, please check here.