Name: Brandy Cherry Brownies with Cocoa Powder
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 50 g sugar (1/4 cup); 40 ml juice from the cherries; 60 ml brandy (1/4 cup); 150 g sour cherries (fresh, frozen thawed or from the glass, drained); 140 g butter (2/3 cups); 200 g sugar (1 cup ); 65 g unsweetened cocoa (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp); 1 pinch of salt; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 eggs (L); 70 g flour (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp)

Dieser Beitrag ist auch verfügbar auf: Deutsch (German)

Fudgy Cherry Brownies with Cocoa Powder and fresh cherries are a decadent treat for brownie lovers that combines dessert and post-dinner drinks! Simple and easy gooey brownies are a sweet treat ideal for the holidays or Valentine’s Day. No nuts, no chocolate! Jump to Recipe

Fudgy Chocolate Cherry Brownies made with Cocoa Powder!

Ditch the brownie mix and learn how to make fudgy brownies with juicy cherries and a hint of brandy! The best part – the cherry glaze!

YES! The cherries are caramelized and their juice is reduced to a boozy cherry sauce with which we glaze the moist brownies.

The best easy homemade brownies for your sweet tooth.

Chocolate and cherries. I love this combination and already have a brilliant vegan chocolate cherry cake and a German marble cake with cherries on the blog.

Now, chocolate, cherries and brandy – that is a truly decadent combination that makes these little cherry brownies fun for adults!

Everyone needs one of those easy-to-throw-together chocolate desserts that can be whipped up in minutes and just thrown into the oven quickly. The brownie batter comes together quickly and the baking time is pretty short!

Why these are so good:

These dense brownies are fudgy and gooey in the middle, with chunks of sweet and juicy delicious cherries on top of the batter! Oh trust me, these chocolate brownies tick ALL of the boxes and more!

My decadent brownies are a great idea for special occasions like Valentine’s Day when cherry flavor anything has peak season. The bake time is short and it’s a really simple recipe! You could probably top these with whipped cream and call them Black Forest Brownies.

I used frozen sour cherries from our garden but dark sweet cherries would also work. You want to caramelize the cherries with some brandy and we want to let them simmer a bit to get rid of excess liquid.

I would not use maraschino cherries in this recipe.

My Brandy Cherry Brownies are made with Cocoa Powder instead of dark chocolate. Yes you’re reading this correctly: With Cocoa Powder.

I’m not trying to sneak in the cocoa powder as some sort of cost-effective, health-conscious, boring-forward alternative to taking a nice, dark, and decadent bar of chocolate and magically transforming it into a baked good. No.

When it comes to finding the best brownie recipe, I have turned over every stone, I have checked under every cushion, and I have raided every tomb for all the brownie-related wisdom to be had out there.

And I have boiled it all down to one ultimate, unassailable truth: cocoa powder beats melted chocolate every time. Full stop. Mike drop. It’s the best way.

Here are very good reasons why I use cocoa in this cherry brownies recipe:

Cocoa Powder vs Melted Chocolate in brownie recipes:

As beloved as our favorite chocolate bars are, the ingredient list on the wrapper contains far more than just “chocolatey goodness”.

At the very least we’re looking at added sugars, additional fats, vanilla, and often emulsifiers and stabilizers.

The real key here is the additional fats.

Chocolate bars most commonly use cocoa butter, while brownies made using cocoa powder require the addition of regular butter to make them work.

Regular butter is much softer than cocoa butter at room temperature. Also at straight-out-of-the-fridge temperature, if that’s how you prefer to eat your brownies.

This means that on top of having a much smoother texture, cocoa powder brownies won’t get dry and crumbly over time the way that batches of brownies made with melted chocolate will.

Using melted chocolate also means that you tend to have to use more flour in the dry ingredients of your recipe due to having a higher moisture content whereas cocoa powder actually partially takes the place of flour in bringing everything together.

You also get a much deeper, truer chocolatey taste using cocoa powder. After all, cocoa powder is 100% cocoa, whereas melted chocolate comes with all the other hangers-on we’ve previously mentioned.

Which cocoa powder works best in cherry brownies?

Now, you have several options when it comes to different cocoa powders. Just so we’re clear – being more expensive does not mean better always. I have had the best brownie results using the cheap no-name brand stuff we get in Canada.

For baking in particular you also have the option of using Dutch-process cocoa powder or even black cocoa powder.

It all comes down to preference and budget.

Tips:

If cherries aren’t your thing, don’t be afraid to experiment with other stone-fruit/liqueur combinations. Plums and port, peaches and calvados, or maybe apricot and Armagnac!
These tipsy cherry brownies are best enjoyed with sour cherries, but can also be baked with dark sweet cherries.
Make sure to use unsweetened cocoa powder / natural cocoa powder for the chocolate mixture
store brownies in an airtight container lined with parchment paper
serve these with my Brandy Cherry Ice Cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream

More easy Brownie recipes you will love:

★ Did you make and love this easy cherry brownies recipe with cocoa powder? Give it your review below! And make sure to share your creations by tagging me on Instagram!