sour cherry chocolate brownies

sour cherry chocolate brownies

• 6 Aug 2018

I was looking through the Popina Book of Baking a few weeks ago and noticed a recipe for sour cherry chocolate brownies. I love sour cherries and decided to transform my chocolate brownies into sour cherry chocolate brownies. I looked in my cupboard and had all the ingredients I needed so into the kitchen I went.





Brownies take no time to make but soaking the cherries requires some forethought as they need to soak for at least an hour, preferably overnight.



I used a straight sided tin not realising it's a bit bigger than my usual brownie tin so the brownies came out looking a little too thin for my liking. I decided to top them with a simple chocolate topping because cooking is all about generosity.



They came out looking pretty fudgy and delicious. Here's the recipe for you which makes 16 brownies if you use a 7½ inch square pan. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Sour cherry chocolate brownies

30g dried sour cherries

2-3 tbs strong hot coffee

½ cup plain flour

1½ tablespoons cocoa powder

125 grams (4 oz) unsalted butter

180 grams (6 oz) dark chocolate

¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

125 gm dark chocolate, chopped

60g unsalted butter, cubed

Method

The night before making the brownies, soak the dried sour cherries in the hot coffee. Cover and leave a few hours or overnight, then drain the cherries before using.

Grease and line the base and sides of an 18 cm square tin. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Sift the flour and cocoa together with a pinch of salt into a small bowl and set aside. Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a medium sized bowl over simmering water or in the microwave. Stir in the sugar, the beaten eggs and the vanilla. Mix in the cocoa mixture and stir until well combined, then fold in the drained sour cherries.

Spoon the mixture into a greased and paper lined 7-7 ½ inch square tin. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until just cooked when tested with a skewer. The brownie crumb should come out a bit damp. Allow the brownies to cool in the tin, before turning out and removing the paper. If desired you can ice the brownies with the chocolate topping.

Topping

Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a medium sized bowl over simmering water or in the microwave. Allow the mixture to cool until it thickens before spreading over the brownies. Allow the topping to set before cutting into bars or squares. Store the brownies in an airtight tin to prevent them drying out.



These brownies are in the freezer waiting to be brought in to work in a few weeks time for a special morning tea, so until then they're a secret.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen

Bye for now,

Jillian