Chocolate Cobbler

Whew!  What a summer this has been!  I’ve been really busy with finding another job, a new apartment, planning my trip to England, cleaning my current apartment, finishing P90X, working my two current jobs, etc.  Needless to say, this blog has kind of fallen by the wayside.  But, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been baking.

I spent my long Memorial Day weekend doing a deep cleaning of my room, which was very therapeutic.  Of course, you can’t clean non-stop and eventually I got a hankering for something sweet.  A few days earlier I had seen Sooz Hawkins’ recipe for her Granny’s Chocolate Cobbler on Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen, and I knew I just had to have it.

You might be saying “What is chocolate cobbler?”  I don’t blame you. What happens is that wet batter forms a cake, and the combination of dry ingredients and water on the top somehow sink through and form a sauce on the bottom.   Though I’ve had it plenty of times throughout my life (sometimes made by MY granny), I had never heard it referred to as a cobbler.  I just called it a pudding cake, since the sauce that forms on the bottom is very pudding-like.

I found this recipe for the first time when Hershey’s used to put those little recipes books on their cocoa.  They call it Hot Fudge Pudding Cake .  I think it might have been the first thing I ever baked from scratch.  I used to get a bad sweet tooth on days off from school when my mom was at work, but she didn’t keep sweets in the house, so I had to make something.  She didn’t bake much, but we usually had the generic baking supplies, which is all you need for this cake.

This is the mixture that goes on top.  It’s amazing what can happen with sugar, cocoa, and water.

This is the wet mixture.  I know it’s delicious just like this, but do try to save some to bake.  I promise it’s worth it.

Sprinkle the dry mixture over the top and then pour on the water.  I know the perfectionist in you will want to stir or poke or bother something (is that just me?), but try not to.  Don’t mess with the magic.

And there it is!  Ooey, gooey, messy, ugly.  DELICIOUS.  The top is crunchy, the cake is moist, the sauce is chocolatey and rich, and the whole thing is coma-inducing.

Chocolate Cobbler (from Tasty Kitchen)

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• 7 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder, Divided
• 1-¼ cup Sugar, Divided
• ½ cup Milk
• ⅓ cup Melted Butter
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ½ cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
• 1-½ cup Hot Tap Water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, 3 tablespoons of the cocoa, and 3/4 cup of the white sugar. Reserve the remaining cocoa and sugar.

Stir in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into an ungreased 8-inch baking dish.

In a separate small bowl, mix the remaining white sugar (it should be 1/2 cup), the brown sugar, and remaining 4 tablespoons of cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.

Pour the hot tap water over all. DO NOT STIR!

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the center is set.

Let stand for a few minutes so you don’t completely burn your tongue.