Without exception, this is the most sinful dessert I have eaten in a long time. Here in the US it often called a chocolate cobbler, but in truth it is a classic English Sticky Pudding. Harry Potter may love his traditional treacle pudding (gooey, sticky cane syrup caramel), but in this version chocolate offsets the sweet and boosts the indulgence factor by a huge margin.
So, what is a chocolate sticky pudding? It is a the marriage of a blondie cookie crust, atop swirls of fudgey chocolate sauce, served warm and spooned into a bowl with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. With a pedigree of two sticks of butter and plenty of sugar, it hits the right note of comfort rich and toothsome sweet.
This recipe’s stock went way up with me when I realized the whole thing went into the oven in about 3 minutes. Just add hot water—literally. As the recipe indicates, resist the
urge to stir in order to get a beautiful marbled crust. Pouring boiling water over a batter seems counter-intuitive, but remember, you are making chocolate sauce while your oven does all the work. This is the perfect dish to toss in the oven right as your dinner guests arrive and pull it out just in time for dessert. So in honor of the final Harry Potter movie’s release, please enjoy my ode to Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Moldywort.
Chocolate Sticky Pudding
Serves 8
2 sticks butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup milk
For chocolate layer:
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 cups boiling water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the two sticks of butter in oven in a 9 x 13-inch casserole. In a medium bowl mix the 1 ¼ cups of sugar, flour vanilla and milk. Pour the batter over the butter, but do not stir (it won’t seem like enough batter but don’t worry). In a small bowl stir to combine cocoa and remaining 1 cup sugar. Sprinkle over top of batter. Do not stir. Pour the 2 cups of boiling water on top of the whole dessert (don’t stir) and bake for 30-45 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Serve warm.
Tres Hatch is the author of Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy.
Holy cow. I MUST try this one. Maybe for dessert tonight along with my pot roast and mashed potatoes. You may as well go all out, right?
ReplyDeleteIn our family we have something similar-Hot Fudge Pudding Cake-works the same, but uses brown sugar instead of white and a little oil instead of butter. It always seems like a little magic to end up with chocolaty cake on top of chocolate pudding. It's the best recipe when you want a really yummy warm dessert at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteI've got to try this version with butter..it could only be even better..