Four ingredients, and one of them is bread. Cocoa nibs are toasted in a dry pan and coated in caramel as the sugar hits them, then scattered over warm toast that has been shaved with Bordier Madagascar Vanilla Butter. The butter melts halfway. The nibs stay crunchy. It is the sort of thing the French eat with coffee, and it takes about as long as making the coffee does.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Serves: 4
- Active time: Not stated by the source
- Cook: No oven. The nibs are caramelized in a skillet and the bread is toasted.
- Key ingredient: 100 g (3.5 oz) Bordier Madagascar Vanilla Butter
Why this works
Bordier made the Madagascar Vanilla Butter in 2010: unsalted butter with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla worked through it. That brown sugar matters here, because it means the butter is already leaning toward caramel before you add any. Vanilla and cocoa are a natural pair, but raw cocoa nibs on their own are aggressively bitter and dry. Rolling them in caramel solves both problems at once: the sugar coats each fragment in a thin brittle shell, sweetens the bitterness back to a pleasant edge, and gives them a glassy crunch they do not have on their own.
The technique in step one is worth understanding, because it is not a wet caramel. You toast the nibs dry, then rain the sugar in a little at a time so it melts on contact with the hot surface and immediately wraps whatever it touches. Adding all the sugar at once would pool it in the pan and you would end up with one sheet of caramel holding a few nibs prisoner. The last piece is the butter itself, churned by hand in Brittany on a traditional wooden malaxeur, which leaves it soft enough to shave into curls with a peeler rather than spread flat. Shavings melt unevenly on warm toast, so you get cool butter and melted butter in the same bite.
Ingredients
Four servings, two slices of bread each.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Cocoa nibs | 50 g | 1.8 oz (about 1/2 cup) |
| Caster sugar | 150 g | 5.3 oz (about 3/4 cup superfine sugar) |
| Farmhouse bread | 8 slices | 8 slices |
| Bordier Madagascar Vanilla Butter | 100 g | 3.5 oz (about 7 tbsp) |
Method
Step 1: Caramelize the cocoa nibs
Toast the nibs in a frying pan, stirring regularly with a spatula. Rain the sugar in gradually. As it touches the hot pan it caramelizes and wraps around the cocoa. Keep going, adding a little at a time, until all the sugar is in. Tip the nibs out onto baking paper and let them cool.
Step 2: Toast, shave and serve
Toast the slices of bread. Shave the Bordier Madagascar Vanilla Butter over them, then scatter the caramelized cocoa nibs on top. Serve with coffee or tea.
Tips from our kitchen
- Work over medium heat, not high. Cocoa nibs are already roasted and they carry cocoa butter, so they scorch quickly and turn acrid. Medium gives you time to control the sugar without the nibs burning underneath it.
- Add the sugar in small handfuls and keep the spatula moving. This is the step that decides whether you get individual coated nibs or one caramel slab. Wait for each addition to melt and coat before the next goes in.
- Spread them out immediately on baking paper. Left in a heap, the caramel fuses the nibs into a solid block as it cools. Push them into a single layer while they are still hot, then break up any clusters once they have set hard.
- Shave the butter cold, straight from the fridge. A vegetable peeler down the side of a cold block gives you curls. Butter at room temperature just smears against the peeler, and you lose the two-texture effect entirely.
- Toast the bread properly dry. Farmhouse bread has an open crumb and holds moisture. If it is only lightly toasted it goes soggy under melting butter within a minute. You want it crisp all the way to the center.
- Assemble one plate at a time. The butter starts melting on contact and the nibs draw moisture from the air. Both are best about thirty seconds after they meet the toast.
How to serve it
Bordier suggests coffee or tea, and that is exactly right: the toast is sweet but the cocoa keeps it from being a dessert, so it belongs at breakfast or with an afternoon pot of something. On a longer breakfast table it sits well next to a good preserve, and our guide to Alain Milliat jams covers which fruits hold up next to vanilla without fighting it. Make the nibs in advance and this becomes a five-minute job on the morning itself.
Where to buy Bordier Madagascar Vanilla Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Madagascar Vanilla Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): unsalted butter with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, a Bordier flavor since 2010.
For the rest of the flavored butters, including the seasonal ones, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier vanilla butter do I need for this recipe?
The recipe calls for 100 g across eight slices. A Bordier block is 125 g, or 4.4 oz, so one block covers it with a little to spare. If you are serving eight people, buy two blocks.
Can I substitute a different Bordier butter?
The seasonal Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter is the obvious alternative and doubles down on the cocoa, though you lose the vanilla contrast. The Salted Butter takes the whole thing in a different direction, salt against caramel, and it works.
What are cocoa nibs and where do I buy them?
They are roasted cacao beans broken into small fragments, sold plain and unsweetened. Most good grocery stores carry them in the baking aisle. Note that the source recipe's English translation calls them grits and oatmeal in places, which is a translation artifact of the French grue de cacao. There is no oat in this recipe.
Can I make the caramelized nibs ahead?
Yes, and it is the better way to do it. Once fully cool, keep them in an airtight jar at room temperature. They stay crisp for a couple of weeks as long as no moisture gets in.
How should I store the butter?
Keep it wrapped and refrigerated, and use it within the date on the pack. Bordier butter also freezes well: wrap the block tightly, freeze it whole rather than in pieces, and thaw it overnight in the fridge.
Does Bordier butter need to be refrigerated?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Unpack it and refrigerate it right away. For this recipe you want it cold anyway, since the shavings depend on a firm block.
Related reading
- Madagascar Vanilla Butter Brioche
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.