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I wanted to see if I could replicate my favorite brown sugar bon bon to share as a holiday treat and the result was a perfect Copycat See’s Bordeaux!
Have you ever had a See’s Bordeaux? I grew up on that stuff. Every Christmas and Easter there would be no shortage of See’s candy around us, and I would always go for the Bordeaux first. I’ll take this creamy, rich, sugary bon bon over anything with nuts or caramel. I’m one of those uniquely talented folks who can identify every See’s candy from the outside before even taking a bite. I had to avoid biting into that nasty one that tastes like fruitcake, afterall. When I figured out I could actually replicate my favorite bon bon from the comfort of my own kitchen, I was a little thrilled, to put it mildly.
The inside consists of brown sugar, butter, heavy cream, and coffee. No wonder it tastes good, right? Those four ingredients alone could satisfy every sweet tooth craving I’ll ever have!
I’m not the best chocolate dipper in the world. In fact, I think I kind of suck at it. Because my first dip wasn’t very pretty, I ended up throwing them back in for a double dip and that did the trick! I didn’t have chocolate cake sprinkles like you see on the real Bordeaux’s but knew I had to pretty them up a bit, so I just put my extra chocolate in a plastic bag, snipped off the corner, and drizzled it on top. Perfection.
Before I took my final photos, I threw my dried bon bons in the freezer with all of my other holiday treats. I can’t remember if i simply ran out of time or ran out of daylight, but the final photos didn’t happen on the day I made them. Pity, because once you stick them in the freezer and then pull them out, the chocolate loses its shine, but we’ll just pretend I didn’t do that, mmmm kay?
The inside is a wonderful, sweet, rich, creamy, naughty center. Again, had I not been in a rush and actually allowed these beauties to come to room temperature instead of cutting a frozen one in half, they would have looked even more awesome, but I’m not too proud to admit my mistakes! It didn’t stop me from eating them either!
Be sure to scroll down past the recipe to see all of my past year’s holiday treats too!!!
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Pin ItCopycat See’s Bordeaux
Equipment
Ingredients
Inside filling:
- 1 cup golden brown sugar packed, C&H brand recommended, other brands may result in a more grainy texture
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee (finely ground) Optional, See's Bordeaux does not have coffee, but I liked the flavor it added (I used Starbucks Via)
- pinch salt
- 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
Outer chocolate coating:
- 12 ounces dark chocolate
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Using a heavy bottom saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar together over medium high heat and bring to boil. Allow to boil for about two minutes.
- Stir in cream, instant coffee (if using), and salt and allow to come to a boil again for about 30 seconds while stirring constantly to avoid scorching. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Add sifted powdered sugar to mixture and stir in well until a consistent dough is formed. Chill until mixture holds shape similar to play dough, about 2 hours.
- Roll sugar dough into 1-inch balls and set on a wax paper lined sheet. Freeze for about 10 minutes for easier dipping.
- Melt chocolate and butter at 50% power in 1 minute increments in microwave, stirring after each minute, until melted.
- Dip candy balls into melted chocolate and allow to set on the wax paper. Either sprinkle with chocolate cake sprinkles or pipe a very thin stream of chocolate on top, if desired.
- Store in airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a great recipe. My family loves it. My niece say’s Sees isn’t Bordeaux. That’s the best compliment an aunt can get.
Has anyone asked or tried how well this recipe will hold up if you used this as a filling within a chocolate cookie and baked it?
No one has ever asked but now I’m salivating at the thought. I think it would melt if baked, but if there was a way to shove it in the middle of a hot cookie fresh out of the oven, it might be heaven.
Hello, I tried your recipe without the coffee and I loved it. Thanks for the easy recipe. I would really like to find a copycat recipe for Sees Pecan Roll, my absolute favorite. I think the center of the Bordeaux might be the same. Any thoughts?
Oh man, that would take some thought on my part and a lot of pecan roll testing!
After reading all these replies, I can’t believe how rude some of you people are. Its a copycat recipe, not an authentic recipe. Leave the girl alone.
Thanks for coming to my defense! I would say 95% of my blog comments are nice. It’s that other 5% that have taught me to have a thick skin. I get some real doozies!
Howdy!
I’ve made these since you first posted this recipe! And every year until 2022. I’m just not well enough to cook anymore. It was my favorite thing to do, cook!
My doctor even asked me if I had stopped cooking, he missed this gift last holiday season!
Everyone I gifted and my family always enjoyed them, I just could never understand how they managed to resist the urge to eat them all up the same day, I always gave myself a dozen in the freezer, I would thaw 1 out every month for my personal moment of memories. My mom and sisters visited a mall together many years ago near the holiday season. The three of us enjoyed the same flavor of our free sample. I was younger and was fascinated that we 3 liked the dark chocolate See’s Bordeaux! My sister that had gone 1st of us said that was her favorite in milk chocolate! None of us knew about the other 3’s favorite candy!
When I found your recipe I had never made candy other than peanut brittle. The first time I melted chocolate. I have the recipe in my card file, I think my girls have it, but I do have a copy on my phone now. My daughter does my baking for me since I don’t cook anymore, I’m so glad I taught them to cook when young!
Thank you for years of enjoying this recipe!
Thank you so much for such a thoughtful comment. I’m so sorry you are unable to cook but I’m glad you’ve passed down the tradtion!
The official Bordeaux ingredients list from See’s does not include coffee or molasses.
Milk Bordeaux Ingredients: sugar, brown sugar, cream, cocoa butter, milk, chocolate, butter, corn syrup, salt, vanilla, confectionery glaze, soy lecithin, vanillin.
I think we can skip the last three ingredients… But curious if using cocoa butter would be better than coffee.
That would be an interesting addition!
Is the brown sugar packed?
Thank you..
Yes. I updated the recipe card. Thanks for asking!
Always pack brown sugar
All of the ingredients after cream are for the chocolate coating on the outside. The inside is a brown sugar cream filling.
Not sure what I did wrong but center filling is really really soft. They are not bad but just not as firm as I would like. Any suggestions?
Hmmmm. I wonder if it has to do with the ingredients. You used real butter and heavy cream?
I agreed with the one comment that they were good as far as the taste but sort of grainy… obviously the brown sugar did not break down as much as it should have to make the inside smooth. I was afraid if I boiled it too long it would leave a burnt taste. Any suggestions? They did taste like the brown sugar squares that See’s makes, being they were not smooth in texture. All in all, I liked them very much but wish they had been smoother.
What kind of brown sugar did you use? I’ve always only used C&H golden brown, but bought a bag of organic brown sugar at costco and it was super grainy. I’m thinking that may make the difference.
I think the addition of a tablespoon or two of corn syrup will prevent the crystallization.
It might turn out grainy if you stir the brown sugar and butter while it’s boiling. Your heat must be medium low and stop stirring once it begins to simmer. Let it boil by itself for the two minutes. It won’t burn if your heat is the correct temperature. Once you add the cream then you have to stir constantly until done.
Great tip. thank you!
How can it boil at medium low?
Do you use packed brown sugar for this recipe? Slightly packed? Loose? I’m old school & way back it was always packed. So many recipes now don’t specify & that’s confusing to me. Please advise. Bordeaux is my favorite & I’m dying to try it. Thank you.
Packed!
Awesomely easy and spot on!
I don’t drink coffee.. do you think it would mess with the recipe if I left it out? Is there something I could substitute for it?
You can leave it out!
I made several batches of these Seas Bordeaux candy for a wedding reception and they turned out perfect you only use just a tad which is like a fourth of a teaspoon of instant coffee it doesn’t take much they were spot on I dip them in chocolate bark and to get the sprinkles on them after they were hard I placed them in the microwave for just 10 seconds and then sprinkle the sprinkles on top of them and they turned out perfectly just like them
I tried to make this substituting swerve brown sugar and confectioners sugar and it tastes like chemical air! What did I do wrong? I used butter and coconut cream instead of dairy. The texture is dry and crumbly and tastes horrible. How can I fix this mess?
You can either make the recipe given or look up a recipe that uses the substitutions you used.
I just saw your comment from several months ago. You may have figured out the problem by now, but here’s some information in case you haven’t.
I haven’t yet made these, so don’t know if these suggestions would work, but when heating and then cooling things made with artificial sweetener you have to use sweetener made from allulose or xylitol. All other sweeteners recrystallize when cooled after heating.
There are now a number of dairy-free “creams” on the market
, too, that act like real cream. I have used Silk as well as Country Crock brands, and both work well. You may have better luck using one of these rather than coconut milk.
I make a lot of sugar-free, dairy-free truffles using allulose-based sweetener and dairy-free cream and have never had a problem.