Description
These Black Forest Cherry Brownies are your new favorite dessert. Exceedingly fudgy, filled with juicy cherries and chocolate chunks and topped with fluffy whipped cream, these bars are indulgent without the fuss of the classic cake.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (regular or Dutch-process*)
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate bar, chopped
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh or frozen (NOT thawed) pitted cherries, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup heavy cream (optional)
- Grated semisweet chocolate, for topping (optional)
- Fresh or maraschino cherries with stems, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with a parchment paper sling**. Spray parchment with cooking spray.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, cocoa powder and chopped chocolate, stirring constantly, 4 to 5 minutes until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat sugars and eggs together on medium-high speed 3 to 4 minutes until mixture is pale and thickened. Gently stir in vanilla, then cooled butter-chocolate mixture. Fold in flour and salt until just combined.
- Gently fold in chopped cherries and chocolate chips until just combined. Pour batter into prepared baking pan.
- Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center of brownies comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging (do not overbake). Cool brownies in pan on a cooling rack completely, about 1 hour.
- Remove brownies from baking pan using parchment sling (run a butter knife along edges of brownies before removing, if needed). Use a sharp serrated knife to gently saw brownies into rows, 4×4, to make 16 total squares.
- In a medium bowl, beat heavy cream with a hand mixer on medium-high speed 3 to 4 minutes until stiff peaks form. Spoon a generous dollop of whipped cream on top of each brownie just before serving, if desired. Garnish with more grated chocolate and a cherry, if desired.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from The Crumby Kitchen.
- You can use either regular cocoa powder or Dutch-process cocoa powder for this recipe. Since leavening is not an issue for this recipe, your choice of cocoa powder simply depends on flavor preference — regular cocoa powder will yield a lighter, slightly more bitter chocolate flavor, whereas Dutch-process cocoa powder will yield a dark, rich chocolate flavor. You can learn more about the function of Dutch-process cocoa powder in the Notes section of my Devil’s Food Cake recipe.
- To make a parchment sling, cut two long strips of parchment, each as wide as the pan (in this case, 8 inches) but long enough to hang over edges of pan on both sides by about 2 inches. Place each strip perpendicular to each other in pan so all sides are covered by parchment.
- Store brownies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 day, or refrigerated up to 3 days.