Even though I grew up in the South, I’d never heard of chocolate gravy until a couple of years ago when a guy at our church asked me if I’d ever tried any.
And I’m not positive, but I believe my response was something along the lines of “WHATCHOCOHUH?”
My friend explained that his grandmother had made chocolate gravy for years; it was their family’s favorite biscuit topping. And all I could think was that if I lived in a world where it was possible for gravy to be made with chocolate, then some sort of cheesecake syrup should be our nation’s next collective culinary goal.
Why, you ask?
Because, my friends, I believe in this country, this land of opportunity, this place where we like to take two unhealthy foods and mix them together until we’ve created a new food that is tastier and, lo, even more unhealthy.
God Bless America.
Anyway, I’d never actually tried chocolate gravy until a sweet friend made some for breakfast on New Year’s Day, and honestly, I cannot think of a finer way to start 2009. It was beyond delicious and just the teensiest bit life-changing. Plus, it opens up a whole new breakfast avenue – Dessert Biscuit Avenue, to be more precise – and I cannot wait to make it and serve it alongside All The Bacon we plan to eat in 2009.
I feel like I should wave an American flag or something.
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Hershey’s cocoa (you can use 1 Tbs. regular and 1 Tbs. dark if you like)
2 tablespoons self-rising flour
3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup milk
Optional:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
In a skillet, mix flour and cocoa and sugar. Turn heat to medium.
Slowly add the hot water, a little at a time. Keep stirring this paste until the sugar dissolves.
Slowly add in the milk. When completely mixed, turn up the heat to medium high.
Stir constantly until desire thickness is reached. Add butter and vanilla; keep warm on low until the biscuits are done.
(For gravy that is less like syrup and more like pudding, add 3 tablespoons flour and use only milk.)
COME ON, NOW.
And this recipe is in the Siesta Fiesta Cookbook – so if you have one of those, you’re good to go.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make some soft tacos for supper.
Perhaps I will batter and deep fry them as an homage to my Southern cooking heritage.
Amen.
I’m new to your blog. Think I got here thru Brody Harper’s blog. Who knows! Can’t believe you wrote this wonderful, tasty recipe as I am watching Oprah talk about her struggle with her weight. And her new work-out routine. Yuck, I don’t want to give up things like chocolate gravy OR biscuts. Speaking of which, I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?
OK, I have a question, if I want to make Chocolate gravey like pudding, do I use 3/4 cup milk only or do I substitute the 3/4 c hot water with milk? Meaning do I use 1 1/2 c. milk? Oh I have got to have this.
I love reading your writing, I want to add you as a post that I follow, is that ok? I don’t really know the rights and wrongs of the blog world. Is it ok to just add someone or should I ask first? I don’t really expect you to respond but that would make my day if you did. How’s that for some pressure.
No seriously, yes I would love for you to respond to me.
Anyway, gotta go, I’ve talked in circles enough, I think I’m just giddy over the chocolate gravey in my future.
Amen.
Oh. my. word. I completely forgot about Chocolate Gravy. Back in the day, I used to go home with a friend on weekends and his Dad (from Arkansas!) would make us biscuits and chocolate gravy. At first it scared me, but one bite later….MMMmmmmmmm….pure bliss.
Thanks for the memory and recipe!
I went to visit my parents last week and Momma always asks me what I want for breakfast, while I’m there. The answer is always the same….chocolate gravy & biscuits. :) I grew up eating it on Saturday mornings. It’s fabulous, isn’t it!?
You have just added one more thing to my New Year’s resolutions. Eat more chocolate gravy.
God bless America is right!
Thank you for sharing the wealth. Is it wrong to do this for dinner tonight? :)
Take care,
Kelly
Why are you doing this to me? Don’t you know that I’m pregnant? Okay, no, you don’t know that. Well, I am. And I would drive all the way to, where do you live? Somewhere far away from Ohio, just to get some of that holy goodness!
What I want to know is why anyone who would develop this recipe would put “Optional” in front of butter and vanilla!! Pour it on!
Mercy, that sounds good. I gained 5 pounds just reading the recipe.
This “until we’ve created a new food that is tastier and, lo, even more unhealthy.
God Bless America.”
cracks me up!
Oh, I love ya, Sophie! Wish I could put my feet under your table down yonder and sit a spell with those yummy tacos.
PS My Chris will have nothing to do with chocolate gravy. Dern.
as a true southern girl i have to agree. there is something about chocolate gravy that makes you sit back and think…what a great idea! chocolate and breakfast foods – could there be anything better. however, i haven’t found much in southern cooking that i don’t like:)
Chocolate gravy = nectar from the Gods.
What if we battered crunchy bacon, deep fried it and served it with chocolate gravy on top? Someone already put bacon on chocolate chip cookies…
I’ve always thought I was a southern girl, but I never heard of chocolate gravy until today either.
God bless America, indeed.
I am an avowed non-cook, but I may have to change my ways, just for this.
sounds yummy! i’ll have to try it! although i may just call it chocolate sauce. i’m from the south and love gravy as much as the next southerner, but saying chocolate and gravy together kind of makes me gag. then again, it could be because i’m 20 weeks pregnant?! :0) ha!
Cardiologists all over the country are now standing and applauding the job security just bestowed upon them by YOU, BooMama the great. And as for me… first Pathwords, now Chocolate gravy; I think I shall have to somehow request that my insurance company bill you for All of the Addiction Counseling that I Shall Undergo in the Next Ten (or Fifty) years. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Okay…that is it! I knew I was supposed to have been born below the Mason-Dixon Line! We NEVER had yummy stuff like chocolate gravy in my northern neck of the woods! Can’t wait to try it..thanks for sharing!
i’ve enjoyed this all my life and now it’s my favorite bedtime snack!
Oh.my.word. I LOVE chocolate gravy! My mom and grandma used to make it all the time, but I have never made it. I’m thinking I might need to whip some up this week, that way I can go ahead a break my New Year’s Resolution to loose the baby fat. It takes the pressure off the rest of the year if you break it early.
Wow….are people going to start eating like I do?? I have chocolate at EVERY breakfast. I wouldn’t bother with something as time consuming as chocolate gravy though. I just eat cake and brownies and chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. Always have, always will. :o)
I think chocolate gravy is a Texas thang…I was born and raised in Georgia, and never heard of it til I married a Texan! God bless Texas, is all I know!
btw… I just linked you through my last post… not that I get any blog traffic, but IF I did, I’d be sending people over here for that recipe!
You should come to “The Chocolate Biscuit Tearoom” in Trussville, Al. Can you guess what their famous dessert is? Yep, a biscuit covered with chocolate gravy-yummy!
This is so my recipe!;) Except I just use milk, no water. I too believe in mixing the unhealthy to create something, well, ya know!;)
I have my grandmother’s recipe for chocolate gravy and heaven knows why I haven’t introduced this Southern goodness to my boys. Guess what we’re havin’ for breakfast Saturday morning!
Great memory — thanks for sharing and I second Kerrie’s idea — try The Chocolate Biscuit in Trussville — great place!!
My Mom was just telling me about chocolate gravy the other day. She said that people were talking about it on their blogs and raving about how great it is. I will have to try it to see what all the fuss is about.
Thanks for the recipe!
Jen
I got a sugar rush just reading this post!! I guess if you wanted to get crazy you could top it all with what’s left over of that giant 5 pound Hershey bar. :) OK, now I think I just gained a pound or two.
Can I still come here and read your blog if I think this sounds really, um, gross?
Maybe it’s my lack of southern roots. Although I can chow down on some biscuits and gravy (the non chocolate kind)
oh yes, chocolate gravy is special. my grandma (who grew up in hoxie, arkansas) makes it for breakfast with bisquits anytime we’re there…. i should mention that she’s diabetic. could there be a link between southern food and diabetes??? hmmmmmm…..
I’ve heard of Chocolate Gravy but I’ve never had it. Your recipe looks easy enough that I might just have to try it. Of course it’s 8:30pm and I have an urge to go make it RIGHT NOW. Thanks. Thanks a lot. :)
That sounds perfect for a chocolate lover like me! I’ll have to give that a try and shock my kids one day!
I think I’ve gained weight just reading this post! Sounds yummy!
Nothing like some chocolate gravy love to make me come out of the commenter woodwork. I haven’t had it in years, but it was a childhood fav here in Middle TN!
Also something about how you said “all the bacon” made me chuckle and I am reminded that it is your favorite of “all the meats”. You and Big Mama cracked me up with that meat conversation!
Ahh, chocolate gravy brings back childhood memories.:)
Ahhh, yes. The Great American Combo ~
Have you ever eaten…
Buttered popcorn and M&Ms
Karo syrup and peanut butter
Chips and Queso
Fast Food Burger with Fries…and a Milkshake!
Ice Cream on top of ANYTHING baked…as long as it is warm…Come now my fellow Americans, don’t limit yourself to apple pie and birthday cake…how about cobblers, brownies, warm chocolate chip cookies?
Ahh, the list could go on, but I think I’ve maxed out my Weight Watchers points just thinking of these things.
I think I have to repent, now.
What a fun childhood memory!! This was a saturday morning special at my house when I was growing up. I dug up my mom’s recipe when I was pregnant with baby #2 last year and I made it for my hubby for the first time. It was a BIG HIT! Love it!
Thank you so much! We will be making biscuits and sausage gravy and more biscuits and chocolate gravy for breakfast on Saturday. MMMMM. Good thing my inlaws will be here to eat some, so I don’t eat it all up.
Awww Man. I just started Weight Watchers again!!
This was a staple in my house growing up. My grandmother made THE BEST Chocolate Gravy and now I make it and my kids LOVE IT!
Oh, it’s been a long time since I had chocolate gravy! I have copied the recipe. But I started a diet today. I am doing Larry North’s plan. Do you think chocolate gravy could count as a protein at a meal? I mean, there is some milk in it!
Oh no, CHOCOLATE GRAVY?! Ahh, and the recipe, to boot!!! Goodbye, New Year’s 2009 resolutions #2, #4, and #7. Hello, sweet biscuity goodness! …
Oh yeah, and according to the Food Network, bacon can be dipped in chocolate and served as a dessert, also. Who couldn’t love chocolate dipped side of pork? … Me, that’s for sure!
You get 10 points for using the word “lo”. Ha!
Shut up. Shut. Up.
I just gained 10 pounds reading this post. But oh, the chocolate gravy and all it’s chocolateness will totally make it worth it.
Bless you, my friend.
huminahuminahumina! I have always said that every girl should start her day with chocolate, and now, thanks to your generosity with the recipe, we have a new way to do it!
Of course, I can’t have any as my nursing newborn objects to anything I eat except meat and bread. And now I want it so bad I’m salivating all over my keyboard and my fingers keep slipping and there’s typos everwhere and it’s taking me five years to write this comment. And I can’t even satisfy this craving!!! So yeah, thanks. Thanks a lot! ;)
I have never heard of chocolate gravy! I am a California girl, and that’s not how we roll. Until now.
So let me get this straight: chocolate can be moved from the high-calorie, high-fat non-food category to the high-calorie, high-fat, actual food category? This is a lot for a girl to take in all at once. I must process…
This stuff is awesome, I’ve made it for years. It’s a Christmas breakfast tradition. And folks, it ain’t just for breafast anymore either. It’s good at night for a treat with some hot buttered biscuits…..I wonder if I have any cocoa….
I have to say this every couple of months or so, just in case you forget…
WE LOVE YOU SOPHIE! YOU MAKE US LAUGH!
And wouldn’t your English teachers be proud of this?
“WHATCHOCOHUH?â€
LOVE IT.
I’m from the south, and I never heard of chocolate gravy, but my mom used to fix chocolate bread, which is day old bread soaked in a cooked chocolate syrup (butter, sugar, cocoa). Sad thing is, the syrup really only cooks down on cold days and we don’t get too many cold days in south LA!
WRONG!!
Butter and vanilla are NOT optional!!! A MUST!!
I love the stuff.
Oh, awesome! Thanks for posting that. I have had chocolate gravy before, when I was a youngin’, but I didn’t know what it was called. My friend’s Dad used to make it for us.
I grew up with chocolate ‘n’ biscuits (that’s what we called it instead of chocolate gravy) in north Alabama. YUM! YUM! Also from my southern roots, I believe you can batter just about anything in corn meal, fry it, and it will be delicious!
My Grandma has always made this with plain yellow cake supcakes. We call it Cupcakes adn chocolate suace. My FAVORITE Bday treat! I would rather have this than traditional cake ANYDAY!
My best friend growing up, her Mom made chocolate gravy. And at one of my wedding showers, the hostess had everyone write some sage advice for me on a card….my friends Mom gave me her recipe for Chocolate Gravy….and that is the wisest advice EVER. Because there is nothing better than biscuits with chocolate gravy!!!
I will strive to forget I ever saw this, heard of such a thing or you decided to post a recipe. My elastic waistbands are almost to the danger zone ’nuff said – oh lawzy it sounds great and on my pecan buttermilk biscuits – NEVERMIND!
OOOOOOO!!!! That sounds heavenly!!!
I’m southern and I have never tasted or even HEARD of this delight! I’m beginning to question my great-grandmother’s true southern heritage. What if it’s all been a lie and I’m descended from people that don’t understand cornbread dressing or sweet potato pie?
It’s almost too much to think about.
When I was a little girl, I spent the night with my BFF and her mom made Chocolate Gravy for breakfast and I had the same “hosannah” moment you did. It’s in our church cookbook from that era (circa 1970) and I make it as a treat, rarely, because unfortunately I’m on a perpetual diet. But I’ll tell you the BESTEST way to eat it: Slice open two biscuits and fill with butter, then put the top back on and allow the butter to melt. Then chop the biscuits up into small bite sized pieces and drizzle the gravy over every. single. piece. It sops up that butter and, oh, mamma!
i grew up on chocolate gravy and hot buttered biscuits. absolutely nothing like it in the free world…it is surely going to be on my table, in my mansion, in heaven.
Every Labor Day Holiday, my extended family gets together at a cabin at the lake. Each morning’s menu: 36 scrambled eggs, 3 dozen biscuits, 2 pounds of bacon and sausage, white gravy and CHOCOLATE GRAVY. We’ve often wondered how a Twinkie would taste with chocolate gravy on it!
I heard of this several years ago and have never tried it.
And really. Butter, OPTIONAL? ;>)
I just wiped the drool off my chin only to discover another chin just from reading about it. Dang! Virtual weight gain – what is up with that???
The gravy doesn’t sound to great. But I think I will try it anyway. I need the weight! HaHa!!!
Just stumbled upon your blog, I love it! I just started a blog with my sister, it is about our weightloss progress. Check it out sometime.
Jamie
http://www.weightytimes.blogspot.com
Yes, God bless America!
and the chocolate gravy!
and then my Proactiv.
and then my treadmill.
BRING IT ON.
(thanks for the recipe!)
You ROCK Boo!! Thanks so much for the sharing of the chocolate gravy recipe! Not two seconds ago I promised on my foodie blog that tomorrow I would post chocolate after posting salad today. The very next post I read from you on the feed – chocolate gravy! Perfect! I’ll be linking to this lovely little post come tomorrow and save myself the typing of another chocolate recipe (I do actually have 2 ready to go, but 3 is better than 2, especially where chocolate is involved!) Thanks for it!
This is the first time I’ve heard of chocolate gravy. But I make a mean chocolate chip biscuit. Nice and rich and buttery. It now has a new friend for a topping.
Thanks. My family is gonna love me!!!!
I can hardly believe my eyes. I grew up on chocolate gravy and biscuits, and no one – NO ONE – I’ve ever talked to has tried it or even heard of it. My husband and kids think I’m making it up. I never had a recipe for it, so I’ve never tried to make it for them to prove that it’s better than it sounds. (My mom doesn’t cook like she used to. I’m not sure she’d remember how to make it.) Thanks for sharing this!
oh, boomama.
i know you are a fay-unn of the food network, as we are ’round these parts.
so. didja happen to see the “unwrapped” where they went to the vosges chocolate factory in chicago?
at said factory, BACON chocolate was created.
oh yes ma’am it was.
(we are planning our family trip around this factory, just for everyone who is wondering…)
Thanks a lot…Tonight I succumbed to the voice in my head awakened by this post and absolutely gorged on biscuits and chocolate gravy for supper and then….watched the Biggest Loser. Not the greatest combination…:)
This is my dad’s all-time favorite breakfast. He used to make it for me on Saturday mornings, while my mom silently retched from the other room. The thought of chocolate on biscuits just made her stomach turn.
Some where in time, Dad stopped making this and now I’ve turned into my mother – the whole thought of chocolate biscuits just doesn’t set well anymore…
Oh, to be a kid again. :) Thanks for the memories. :)
Get thee behind me, thou fiend of temptation!
Why don’t you just melt a bag of Nestle’s choc. chips with a cube of butter like my mama used to do? It’s much yummier…and THICK.
BooMama, I am a huge fan of biscuits and an absolute chocoholic, but I am having a hard time wrapping my mind (and my tastebuds) around a chocolate-gravy covered biscuit. I believe you when you say it’s “beyond delicious” but I don’t know if I could work up the nerve to actually try it. When I think of biscuits I think “sausage gravy”. I think “homemade syrup”. I think “butter & jelly”, but I do not think “chocolate gravy”. I’ll admit this is a totally new concept to my southern mind, however I’m gonna give it some more thought. Thanks for the recipe.
I have fond memories of sleeping over at a friends house and her mom making this for us in the morning. She might have served biscuits, but for us I think she should have called it chocolate soup instead of chocolate gravy.
I still crave it at times, so I’m so glad that you posted a recipe. Because no one has ever heard of chocolate gravy. As another poster said – my husband thinks I made it up too. Or dreamed it, might be more accurate! :)
As one Southerner to another……I’m just here to say “Hey Y’all”. Thanks for sharing one of the finer parts of Southern culinary goodness.
My mom made this when I was growing up, but instead of putting it over biscuits, we used fried potatoes. Yum!