Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Granny’s Chocolate Cobbler. Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.  The original recipe can be found over at Tasty Kitchen.

Robyn’s Take:

This week’s recipe came about months ago, when Richard suggested that we make chocolate cobbler. He didn’t provide a link to a recipe (RICHARD), so I Googled around for one, and so here we are.

You guys know how I am when it comes to recipes and shit. I glance at the picture, glance at the ingredients, and don’t bother to actually look at the instructions until it’s time to actually make this shit. I do it totally half-assed – why use a whole ass, when a half ass will do? So it wasn’t until I was gathering the ingredients that I realized that this recipe is pretty much identical to the Easy Fudge Cake recipe in my Cooking Down East cookbook, by Marjorie Standish (the only difference being that the Marjorie Standish recipe uses shortening instead of butter). I hadn’t made it in many years, but it’s a good cake to throw together when you want something sweet and chocolatey without having to run to the store for something.

So, your ingredients:

Flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, sugar, milk, melted butter, vanilla extract (WHICH YOU COULD MAKE YOURSELF!)(PS: I love how many of you had NO idea that vanilla extract has alcohol in it. You are SO my people), light brown sugar, and hot tap water.

Firstly, stir together your dry ingredients.

Then add the milk, melted butter, and vanilla, and stir ’til it’s well mixed.

Next (not pictured), dump your batter into an ungreased 8-inch baking dish. Then in a small bowl, stir together your remaining white sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa.

Sprinkle that mixture evenly over the top of your batter.

Then pour the hot tap water over the top of the whole mess.

DO NOT stir it together after you’ve added the water, just pop it in the oven and go have a consultation with a visiting chef.

“Chef Sugarbutt not approve of this “chocolate that cats cannot have” nonsense.”

When the center is set (ie, not jiggly), your cake is done. Remove it from the oven, let it cool a bit, and then serve with vanilla ice cream

Don’t forget to take a terrible picture of it before you eat!

I’ve figured out why I can take good cat pictures and not good food pictures. It’s because cats are ALIVE and give you something to work with, with expressions and ears and go-fuck-yourself looks. They’re FUN to take pictures of. Food just lays there looking like it needs to be eaten (or not), and so it’s more work to get an appetizing picture of it. Clearly, it’s not a skill that I possess, and obviously I’m not that interested in making myself a proper FOOD BLOGGER. Those of you who can make food look appetizing, you have my admiration. It ain’t easy!

So the verdict on the chocolate cobbler? It’s good when it first comes out of the oven, a big ol’ scoop of vanilla ice cream made it even better, but it doesn’t reheat well. Fred said it was “okay” hot, but wasn’t interested in having more than a bite. Basically, I ate a piece, he had a bite, and after I took a bite the next day, the chickens got the rest. Make it and serve it if you’re not going to have leftovers, or if you’re craving something chocolatey and sweet, but don’t expect to eat it for a few days.

Will I make it again? Possibly, but I’m not rushing to do so.

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Nance’s Take:

I had to go to Ree Drummond’s (aka: Pioneer Woman) social-recipe site to get this recipe. Oy. There is a particular type of woman that makes my skin crawl and boy, there are a shit-ton of those type over there. I will take your crazy food porn comments over uptight and prissy any motherfucking day!

This particular entry would have been posted earlier, but the Golden Globe Awards got in the way. The kids were all here and I made three racks of baby back ribs using the recipe we featured a while back. I was planning on making the cobbler for dessert, but we all ended up sitting in the living room eating ribs, potatoes, and corn on the cob while critiquing every single actor/actress on the screen. Any dessert was completely forgotten by the time Jacqueline Bisset made her cringe-worthy speech.

And…I just made it today and I’m typing this entry the night before we’re due to post. Procrastination. WINNING!

The recipe immediately annoyed me because it had the dreaded word divided in it. It forces me to pay attention and that’s the kind of shit that will drive me right outta the kitchen. Ugh.

It also takes 1/3 cup of butter and I knew that was going to be a pain in the ass. I like things that don’t require me to figure out how to measure it. Just gimme a recipe that takes a stick of butter, for chrissakes. Why do I have to work so hard?

Okay, this part wasn’t hard. Please note: I used Shirley’s special Wolfgang Puck whisk that she has been hiding from me. The woman needs a strait-jacket.

And tell the truth…how many of you really measure out your vanilla? I’m all about guestimating it with always trying to error on too much. I bet Robyn (aka: Miss GoodyTwoShoes) measures her fucking homemade alcohol fueled ladeeda vanilla.

Nectar of the Gods. And also, a wee bit over 1/3. FML.

Apparently I’m not happy if I’m not making a huge mess.

Action shot!

This batter was delicious.

Same batter. I’m just having moderate to severe lighting problems.  I do not, however, have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.  Am I the only one that thinks that commercial’s particular wording is a little awkward?

The topping gets dumped and spread all over.

And you finish it off with a nice drink of water.

This is what came out of the oven. You’re supposed to serve this with homemade ice cream, but homemade ice cream sucks. I opted to just try it without any ice cream and it’s…okay. This recipe tastes like warm pudding with chocolate cake on top. Except sweeter.  After it cooled I tried it again.  And it just tasted like room temperature pudding with cake on top.  Except sweeter.

Blurry Sadie is not impressed with this recipe and neither was I. It wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t our thing.