We took a sweeter approach to cooking this week with a heavenly baked chocolate pudding, which tastes like exemplary brownies when you take them out of the oven. The recipe is quick and easy to execute, and the hardest part was waiting for the mixture to cool after coming out of the oven, its rich and intoxicating scent wafting right under our noses.
The end product was more than worth the wait, though, especially with some ice cream added to the mix. Be forewarned that, after a taste of this family recipe, you'll never be able to go back to out-of-the-box brownies again.
Betts Armstrong's Baked Chocolate Pudding. Originally known as "Summerhouse Fantastic Fudge Pudding."
Ingredients:
4 cups sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
8 large eggs
2 cups butter, melted
4 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups toasted and chopped
pecans (optional)
First, preheat oven to 300 degrees farenheit.
Then sift together sugar, flour and cocoa and beat eggs in a large mixing bowl. Next, add dry ingredients, butter, and vanilla. Mix well.
Stir in pecans (optional) and pour mixture into muffin tins with cupcake liners. Be sure to use aluminum cupcake liners, as the recipe's butter content is too high for the paper ones.
Place in water bath and bake the oven shelf at lowest level for 30 minutes, when the tops begin to look done. Be careful not to over-bake.
For our water bath, we used the bottom of a turkey roasting pan. Put a little water in, enough to be about halfway up the sides of the muffin tin, then place the tin down in the water, careful not to let the water spill into the chocolate. Taking the tins out after cooking can be tricky, as they and the water are very hot, so use potholder mitts.
Remove from water bath and cool completely on wire rack. Top becomes crusty as pudding cools.
For a delicious rich treat, top with coffee ice cream.
This recipe serves 16 and is adapted from The Star of Texas Cookbook.