Hot Fudge Spoon Cake Crock-pot Style

My little family and I like to go out to eat occasionally (yeah..more than that) and Applebee's  is one of our haunts. For dessert we like to get their triple chocolate meltdown , which is so. good. It's one of our favorite "going out" desserts as it has this melty chocolate saucey stuff  that comes pouring out of the center that each of us try and scoop up before the other. (We share one) It's a molten lava cake and I've never been able to recreate it, at least not as good as the triple chocolate meltdown. It's always too dry or the middle cooks and no yummy goo comes spilling out. No fun at all!

I wanted to make a special dessert for my son's first day in junior high and I found this crock-pot recipe that looked a lot like a triple chocolate meltdown and I thought I would give it a shot. I wasn't disappointed and will be making this again. Sooon!  You need about two hours and a crock-pot. You can probably find most if not all of the ingredients in your pantry. I think it compares to the triple chocolate meltdown eye to eye. Cheaper too.  This is so scrumptiously good that trying not to eat the whole thing was a challenge.

Hot Fudge Crock-pot Spoon Cake
 (you need two medium bowls)
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup  plus 3 Tablespoons baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup fat free half and half
2 Tablespoons butter melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup chocolate chips

In one of the bowls mix the flour, 1 cup brown sugar, the 1/4 cup baking cocoa, baking powder and salt.
Add the half and half , butter and vanilla. Mix really well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spray your crock pot with non-stick spray and spread the batter on the bottom. In the other bowl mix 3 Tablespoons of the cocoa and the 1/2 cup of brown sugar and sprinkle it on top. Add the 1 3/4 cup hot water to the top but don't mix it in.
Cover and cook on high for about two hours or until the top inch or so of the cake is cooked.

  (adapted from Gooseberry Patch, Our Best Desserts, Hot Fudge Spoon Cake-Sara Plott)

 There's no eggs in this so no worries making sure it's cooked all the way through. So licking the bowl is over the top encouraged!
I let it sit for about 20 min or so before scooping it out so it would set up a bit. Oh.. and vanilla ice cream tops it beautifully!
This will be a common dessert in our house now and I'll save some bucks making it at home instead of going out. This tastes way better anyway.