Roasted Cherry Dark Chocolate Brownies

Inspiration can arrive without a moment's notice. Like a lighting bolt illuminating the sky and racing towards the ground, inspiration strikes equally. When I am inspired with a new and unique idea, it hits like a punch to the gut, all-encompassing and demanding attention. True inspiration isn't just a light bulb switching on above your head. It is too powerful. If true inspiration struck, the light bulb would burst into a fireworks display that would light up the night sky.

These brownies were my inspiration.

Rarely am I struck out of the blue with unique and delicious ideas. Chances are you've already eaten most of the recipes I feature on this blog, or a variation thereof. You may not have set out to make them yourself, but I find that it's hard to surprise people with a new take on an old recipe or idea. That's not to say I certainly don't try to keep you on your toes and surprise you once in awhile. I'm just saying it's difficult to re-invent the chocolate chip cookie.

When I got the idea for these brownies, I immediately went to the internet to see if it had been done before and with any luck. There are recipes for dark chocolate brownies, brownies with dried cherries, and brownies with cherry preserves. Combining cherry and dark chocolate certainly isn't a new idea, but no one, as far as I can tell, has ever put roasted cherries in a brownie and decided to share the tale.

Let me tell you, this needs to be remedied as soon as possible.

Roasted Cherry Dark Chocolate Brownies are like brownies sent down from the dessert gods themselves. The dark chocolate base of these brownies is so unbelievably moist and decadent. As soon as the brownie hits your tongue, it melts into a gooey, chocolaty mess that sticks to the roof of your mouth like a spoonful of peanut butter. When combined with the rich sweetness of caramelized roasted cherries (like in this ice cream), you might feel tears come to your eyes. These really are that good. I would never lie to you about something so serious as a good, quality dessert. These are the best brownies I have ever eaten (and I've eaten some good ones).

No one in my house can get these brownies off of their minds and, several times a day, someone will sneak up with a fork to subtly steal a bite (or ten). You will want a tall glass of milk with these. Oh, and another brownie.

One Year Ago: Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

Roasted Cherry Dark Chocolate Brownies

1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and halved
2 1/2 cups (1 lb) dark chocolate, chopped in pieces
1/2 cup salted butter
4 eggs
1 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

In a small roasting pan, combine the fresh cherries and 1 tablespoon sugar. Roast for 10 minutes, or until the cherries start releasing juices. Remove cherries from baking pan and place in the refrigerator to cool down.

Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking dish (if you use a larger pan, decrease the baking time; likewise, if you use a smaller pan, increase the baking time).

In a double boiler, melt together the dark chocolate and butter until smooth. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla extract until well blended. Add the melted chocolate and mix until incorporated. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Stir in the cooled, roasted cherries. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until brownies do not jiggle in the center when the pan is shaken (even when baked completely, a toothpick may not come out clean). Do not overbake! These brownies are best when slightly under-baked.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Comments

[Ray-Ray]

Ooh, I love the close-up of the cherries. That juiciness is makes me wish it were cherry season. I can't wait to try this recipe!

[KS]

Poor little cherries blood!

[SamCyn]

My husband loves cherry desserts and I love anything chocolate!...I can't wait to make these. Thanks for sharing!

[Molly @ Drexelius Chocolates]

How fantastic! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe :)

[Heidi]

Oh my, that sounds amazing. My parents live on a cherry orchard so I always have an abundance of cherries at the end of summer. I will try these for sure :D

[Dress and Dish]

Oh nice! My Auntie makes these brownies because she is a cherry nut! She adds a bit of almond extra to her recipe. It is pretty sweet. I think I will try this recipe. It may make for a more even balance of sweetness. ha ha I love the pictures of the cherries too.

[Kathleen]

Delicious! I made them this afternoon, and I've already eaten WAY more than I should have eaten. My only modification for next time around (and there will be a next time- these brownies are that good!) is to halve the amount of vanilla extract. Right now, it's too much on top of the cherries and chocolate.

[Kristin Rosenau]

Heidi-- An abundance of cherries sounds almost too goo to be true. How lucky!

Dress and Dish-- Ooo, almond extract is a great idea. I bet that would play well with the cherry and dark chocolate. Sounds like I'll have to make these again soon!

Kathleen-- I'm glad you liked them! I could see how vanilla could be a little much, but I love my vanilla extract. Thanks for the helpful input!

[katie@thehillcountrycook]

found you from StumbleUpon, looks DELICIOUS and beautiful pictures :) Very pleased.

[Alina-Explora Cuisine]

Thank you so much for this recipe!!! I've been searching the web for a Cherry Brownie recipe and this one looks sooooo good! I can't wait to try it, though I have to admit that I'll probably use fresh cherries :) I'll come back soon to check out more recipes, I love your blog!

[Kristin Rosenau]

Alina-- I actually made these twice—the first with fresh cherries and the second with roasted. Both are very good. I liked the softer taste and texture of the roasted cherries a tad better (hence, why I posted about these versus the other), but the fresh cherry brownies are also good. The cherries do stay crisp (even while baking) and I noticed the flavor wasn't as evenly distributed through the brownie. But, again, these are just my observations . This brownie base is so good that any way you want your cherries, they will taste good.

[Susannah]

I am going to try this tomorrow for Father's Day. Neither my husband nor farther are big dessert guys but both like Black Forest Cake and my husband especially loves dark chocolate. Think I have a winner here! Thanks for sharing.

[kristi]

I loved the idea of these. I had some bourbon marinated cherries that had been marinating since summer 2010, so I substituted these for the roasted. Bourbon another yummy dimension. I drained the cherries very well prior to incorporating into the batter. Baked 18 minutes. When I went to cut several hours later I found them to be very undercooked. Now I love a very moist brownie, but the batter ran into the dish when I pulled out one brownie. The next day I cooked them for another 20 minutes and they did not taste overdone at all and were much better. ( I had used Jacques Torres chocolate so was not about to throw them out)

It's a very decadent very rich brownie - loved them.

I can't imagine that just the bourbon cherries doubled the cooking time. Anyone else have issues with the cooking time?

[Kat]

Oh wow I love the idea of using roasted cherries! I was about to make these, then realized I didn't have enough chocolate, so I ended up making blondies with cinnamon & sugar roasted cherries, four roses single barrel bourbon, and dark chocolate chips. They turned out amazing! I'll have to get some more chocolate soon to try these brownies out.

[Britt]

I made these last week but they did not cook thoroughly. They were way too thick in an 8x8 so I will try a 9x13 pan next time. They were SUPER tasty though. I think the cherry taste was very light so I might even add more next time. The dark chocolate is amazing. I used Godiva so it had to be good. I love your site, after coming across it a few weeks ago. I've already printed several other recipes to try. Thanks!

[Erin R]

I made these yesterday - I used an 8x8 pyrex, so I knew the baking time would be longer - but I didn't anticipate it being almost 35 min! They were gooey and delicious. Maybe my vanilla extract isn't as strong as others, because I really didn't notice it in comparison to the heavy flavor of buttery dark chocolate. Next time I'd add more cherries though. I loved it every time I bit into one (they retained their soft-roasted texture really well) and I just wanted more!
Great recipe!

[TI]

I cannot wait to make this for post Ramadan Celebrations (i.e. EID).. it's something different that most people don't make...!

[Liz]

Just made these tonight (after drooling over them on my sweets board on pinterest for a long time!).... They were scrumptious! Just wanted to let y'all know that I 1/4'd the recipe and it was the perfect size for two large muffin cups. They only took ten minutes to bake and was the perfect size for a single serving for two and no temptation to over eat! :)

[Angela Witko.]

Made these and they were pretty good, althogh I would probably use 2 cups of cherries next time. Bake time for me was around 32 minutes.

[Maggie @ A Bitchin' Kitchen]

I made these yesterday, and they were really tasty! I used an 8x8 metal pan lined with foil and greased, and had to bake them for about 35 minutes. I used unsalted butter, and added 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I will probably do 1 1/2 cups of cherries next time! These were more of a cake-like brownie (I usually make fudgier-style brownies), but it was a delicious change!

Thanks for the recipe!

[Aditi]

Your recipe looks absolutely delicious...its my husband's birthday tomorrow and I totally want to make this as a birthday cake for him. Could you please help me with clarifying a few things...would all purpose flour do? also I dont have have a rectangular brownie baking tray, just a regular round cake baking tray....would i need to worry about the baking time with that?

Please help :)

[Kristin Rosenau]

Aditi-- All purpose flour will work perfectly. If you use an 8 or 9-inch round baking pan, the baking time should be right around the same time, so you shouldn't run into any problems. I hope that helps!

[claire]

i just made these with roasted raspberries and 1/2 tsp of cayenne. so amazing. thank you!