Chocolate Cherry Brownies

Happy Valentine’s Day! I saw these brownies a couple of weeks ago and knew they would be perfect for today. I ended up making a couple of changes from the original recipe, but the idea is the same. This recipe starts with a baked pan of brownies. I chose to make my brownies from scratch, but you could use a box mix if you’d like. I chose the “On the Fence” brownies from King Arthur Flour, which are a nice combination of fudgy and cakey.

I added cream cheese to the frosting, since I thought that would go nicely with the chocolate and cherries. The frosting is really soft, but it firms up once you refrigerate it. I chopped the cherries in my mini food processor, as I would have never gotten them chopped finely enough by hand. I also did just a simple chocolate drizzle to top these, rather than a thicker layer of chocolate. 

I really like the chocolate and cherry in these brownies. They were a little tricky to cut because the brownie layer was quite thick. I think I would have preferred a thinner brownie, but you never quite know when start out. I really like the cherry/cream cheese frosting, so that was a good choice to go that route. These brownies are very decadent, so I cut them in very small pieces. These would be a great treat for anyone you love!

Chocolate Cherry Brownies

1 cup butter

2-1/4 cups sugar

1-1/4 cups cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla

4 eggs

1-1/2 cups flour

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butter, room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

10 ounce jar maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tablespoon shortening

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Stir over the heat to warm the sugar to about 110 degrees, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Whisk the eggs in, one at a time, until smooth. Stir in the flour and the chocolate chips, stirring until smooth.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 28-30 minutes, until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool before frosting.

Make the frosting: in a large mixer bowl combine the butter and cream cheese and beat on medium until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar and once the sugar has been added, beat on medium for several minutes until light. Stir in the chopped cherries.

Spread the frosting on the cooled brownies and refrigerate for one hour to set.

Melt the chocolate and shortening in a small bowl in the microwave, heating in 30 second increments. Drizzle the chocolate over the frosted brownies and refrigerate to set the chocolate.

Remove the brownies from the pan by lifting the foil; peel away the foil. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe inspired by Six Sister’s Stuff. Brownie recipe from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion.