Granny's Chocolate Cobbler: Recipe #5 Sunday Dinner at Grandma's

Well, I'm at the half way point.  5 more recipes and I will get to giveaway a copy of Sunday Dinner at Grandma's thanks to Gooseberry Patch and their "In the Kitchen" partnership with The Real Farmwives of America & Friends.  

Recipe #5 comes from the Scrumptious Desserts section of Sunday Dinner at Grandma's and it definitely did not disappoint.

(Now let me just say, I really thought I took more pictures while I was making this especially the one with all of the melted butter, but I guess not as they aren't on my memory card so you might have to use your imagination on a few of the steps.)

Granny's Chocolate Cobbler

Ingredients
3/4 c. butter, melted
3 c. sugar, divided
1 1/2 c. self-rising flour*
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. plus 2T. baking cocoa, divided
2 t. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. boiling water

Spread melted butter in a 13"x9" baking pan; set aside.  (I just melted the butter in my microwave in the baking pan to limit my number of dirty dishes.  Just be sure to turn off the turntable.)

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 c. sugar, flour, milk, 2 T. cocoa and vanilla.  (Now, I must admit I didn't realize it when I made this but I did slightly deter from the recipe here as I added 1/4 c. and 1T. of cocoa since the recipe called for the cocoa to be divided.  I guess I took the word divided too literally.  This could explain why my batter didn't exactly pour into the baking pan in the next step, but I would say it had no impact on the taste.  Just ask Miss Leah, Miss Cris, and Miss Megan if you don't believe me. And talking to them while making this may or may not have had any impact on me following the recipe or taking pictures.)

Pour over melted butter in pan.  (Remember from above, my batter did not pour, but I did spread it out in the pan and then moved around the pan to get the melted butter evenly distributed over my batter.)

In a small bowl, mix together remaining sugar and cocoa.

Sprinkle evenly over batter.

Pour boiling water over batter; do not stir.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  (When you take this out of the oven, the middle will seem a little jiggly for lack of a better word, but the top is set.)

Serve warm and add vanilla ice cream, whip cream or Cool Whip if desired.

Enjoy!!

*Thanks to a great tip in this cookbook on page 16, I was able to make my own self-rising flour.  Per Gooseberry Patch, to equal one cup self-rising flour, substitute one cup all-purpose flour plus 1 1/2 t. baking powder and 1/2 t. salt.  This is a great tip as I always have all-purpose flours, baking powder, and salt on hand... self-rising flour is another story.


 Special thanks to Gooseberry Patch for providing me with this great cookbook to try and share with you. If you would like to purchase this or other cookbooks, please visit their store. If you would like to see other great recipes, check out www.realfarmwivesofamerica.com .

Peanut Butter Brownies: Recipe #2 from Sunday Dinner at Grandma's

Mother's Day was the perfect opportunity for me to make not one, but two recipes from Gooseberry Patch's Sunday Dinner at Grandma's as part of the Gooseberry Patch and The Real Farmwives of America and Friends In the Kitchen partnership.  Since recipe #1 was slightly nutritious, I had to go with something sweet for recipe #2:  Peanut Butter Brownies

Ingredients
1/3 c. shortening
2 T. baking cocoa
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. creamy peanut butter

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt shortening and cocoa together.

Cool; transfer to a medium bowl.

Stir in sugar and eggs.

Add flour and salt.

Mix well; fold in peanut butter.

Spread in a greased 8"x8" baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Enjoy!  (These brownies didn't make it 24 hours at my pig pen.)

Special thanks to Gooseberry Patch for providing me with this great cookbook to try and share with you. If you would like to purchase this or other cookbooks, please visit their store. If you would like to see other great recipes, check out www.realfarmwivesofamerica.com .

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cake

As you know, Ott, A has challenged me over the last few months with the secret ingredients for her Iron Chef Challenge.  The last 3 months have each resulted in cooking firsts for me:  duck, lamb, and canned tomatoes.  So I must admit, I was pretty excited when it was announced that Clabber Girl baking powder was the secret ingredient for April. 

Although, I have baked many times with baking powder, I decided to be adventurous and try a new recipe.  In preparation for my upcoming venture with The Real Farmwives of America and Friends and Gooseberry Patch, I thought I'd try a new recipe from one of my current Gooseberry Patch cookbooks:  Church Suppers.

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cake

6T. butter, melted

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. baking soda

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

8 oz. sour cream

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Blend together butter and sugar in a medium bowl.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and set aside.

 Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. 

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with sour cream. 

Mix well.

 Pour into a greased and floured 13 x9 baking pan.

 
Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  
 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until golden and toothpick tests clean.  

Enjoy!

Something to look forward to

Well the next two weeks have this full-time working momma traveling quite a bit which you know often leads to mommy guilt.  I'm trying to not let it get to me as I will be home for the soccer games over the weekend and a few other important family activities. 

Additionally, I have the pleasure of officially launching The Real Farmwives of America and Friends partnership with Gooseberry Patch today.  Be sure to check it out as you, my readers, have one week to determine which Gooseberry Patch cookbook I will prepare 10 recipes out of over the next few months.  The reason you want to have a say in the cookbook I end up with is because after I prepare those 10 recipes, I will be giving away a copy of the exact same cookbook I used thanks to Gooseberry Patch. 

So although I will be traveling some in the coming weeks, I will have plenty of new recipes to choose from over the weekends when I can spend some time in the kitchen with my family and that is giving me something to look forward to even with the mommy guilt. 

Cooking with an 8 year old - Chocolate Chip Muffins

All 3 of our kids love to cook and we love to watch the Food Network as a family.  This leads our children to often have Iron Chef contests when we cook and Big Sissy often narrates her cooking/baking and calls it "Cooking with an 8 year old."  So welcome to my new series... Cooking with an  8 year old.

So Big Sissy really loves Gal in the Middle's pumpkin chocolate muffins and wanted to take them to school for the Valentine's Day Party.  As much as I love the muffins too, I told her no, because I thought orange, pumpkin flavored muffins were probably not the right thing for Valentine's Day... it was just a hunch a I had. 

So using those muffins as inspiration, we went on a mission to find a chocolate chip muffin recipe.  Thanks to allrecipes.com and the reviews from previous bakers, we were able to find a pretty yummy chocolate chip muffin recipe; even though we still love Gal in the Middle's. 

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

3 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 cup milk

1 t. vanilla

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 T. white sugar

2 T. brown sugar

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Line muffin tin with baking cups.

In medium bowl, combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt; mix well. 

In small bowl, combine milk, oil, and egg; blend well.

Add liquid ingredients all at once to dry ingredients; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy).

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. 

Sprinkle tops of muffins before baking with combination of 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons brown sugar.

Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

Cool 1 minute before removing from plan. 

Enjoy!!