Culinary Adventures: Chocolate Cherry Cobbler recipe. Cherries and chocolate, together in harmony.

 

I was trying to decide on a dessert recipe to bring to our friends’ BBQ the other week and the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine showed up in the mail with a really good looking chocolate cherry cobbler recipe on the cover. I realize that last sentence makes me sound like  a Minnesota housewife, but hey–don’t knock BHG. They do have good recipes and landscaping ideas.

I decided to give it a try. I made a few adjustments–I couldn’t find ground chipotle chili powder so I used regular chili powder, and I couldn’t find frozen tart pie cherries at the grocery store I was at, so I got sweet black cherries and some fresh rainier cherries and mixed them together.

Better Homes and Gardens’ Firecracker Chocolate Cherry Cobbler recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
• 1 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 7 cups fresh or frozen pitted tart red cherries
•  Milk
• 1 tablespoon coarse sugar

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 2-quart round baking dish.
2. For the biscuits, in a medium bowl combine 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground chipotle. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender or 2 forks, cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate. Add the 1/4 cup milk and stir until just moistened. Knead the dough 3 to 4 times in the bowl until it holds together. Form the dough into a disk.
3. In a large saucepan combine the 3/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup flour; stir in cherries. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cover to keep warm.
4. On a floured surface roll biscuit dough out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with assorted 2- to 3-inch star-shaped cutters, rerolling dough as necessary. Spoon hot filling into prepared dish. Arrange dough cutouts over filling. Brush cutouts with milk and sprinkle the tops with the coarse sugar.
5. Bake 30 minutes or until filling is thick and bubbly and biscuits are baked through. Remove and let stand 30 minutes before serving.

Honestly, I didn’t purposely plan on doing star shaped cobbler biscuits like the recipe said to, but I happened to find a star shaped cookie cutter in my baking drawer that I didn’t know I had, so I did. You can do any shape, or use a small drinking glass to cut rounds.

Pitting the fresh rainier cherries was kind of a pain in the butt but not too bad, since I was mixing them in with the already pitted frozen black cherries. Do make sure you stir the cherry mixture, it will start burning on the bottom and sticking. Keep the heat on medium, don’t turn it up too high.

I also deviated from the recipe a bit by adding chocolate chips to the cherry mixture after I poured it into the pan. I think next time I would even add a few more.

I had exactly enough stars to cover the cherries in the pan (including the last gimpy one in the corner). I just has to taste good, right?

The cobbler turned out pretty good and everyone seemed to like it. We ate it with vanilla ice cream. I do think that not using tart pie cherries made a difference though, and if I make this chocolate cherry cobbler again I will make sure I can get tart cherries.  I would also do salted butter instead of unsalted. I usually use salted butter in all baking projects, the extra salt brings out the flavor a bit more–especially with chocolate. I’d also like to try it with the chipotle pepper instead of regular chili powder–that sounds delicious.

If you have a star-shaped cookie cutter and can get some good tart pie cherries, this chocolate cherry cobbler recipe would be a good one for the Fourth of July.

 

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases from product links on this site.