I know I hardly ever make sweet things for the blog, but when I was asked to take part in the ‘Make Your Own baking’ campaign, I spotted this little treasure amongst the Xmas Recipes, and couldn’t resist!
I’ve mentioned before about my disastarous attempt at making brownies. Needless to say, I was apprehensive about trying them again. I’m not one to cope with failure very well, however, so was determined to give it another go.
The addition of glace cherries gives it a lovely, festive feel too! I’m sure these would be perfect to give to your family and friends over the holidays. I’d choose these beauties over a Christmas pudding any day!
The original recipe states that it makes 36 small brownies, but I split mines into 15 chunky squares!
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
300g dark chocolate
250g butter (I used unsalted)
4 large eggs
200g light muscovado sugar
40g cocoa powder (that’s right – I didn’t just use hot chocolate this time!)
1.5tsp mixed spice
70g plain flour (the recipe asks for wholemeal, but I couldn’t find any)
200g glace cherries
I preheated my oven to 180 degrees, then greased and lined my tin with baking parchment.
Next, I melted the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of boiling water. I don’t melt chocolate in the microwave; it burnt to a crisp last time!
Next, I whisked the eggs and sugar for five minutes by hand, till the mixture was slightly thickened. Use a hand mixer if you’ve got one, lest your arm falls off!
I folded the melted chocolate into the egg mixture, gently, trying not to eat all the chocolate (and failing).
I mixed the cocoa powder, flour and mixed spice together, and stirred the cherries in, coating them nicely.
I folded them into the chocolate mixture, then poured everything into my tin, and it looked like this:
I baked for 30 mins, then checked to see if it was ready by piercing with a knife. You’ll know it’s ready if there are a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
Once cooled, I cut into squares and tried desperately not to eat them all before giving them (rather selflessly) to my workmates for something to remember me by, over the festive season. I even left the arsenic out; how good am I? 🙂
I baked these in my mum’s house last night and drove home with it in the passenger seat… the smell was driving me mad! Heavenly…
I’m happy to report, they went down a treat! 🙂 I got some good feedback from my work mates. They’re very chocolatey and dense, but in a nice, moist kind of way. I like the addition of mixed spice to it, and the cherries break through the richness nicely!
Perfect with some ice cream!
Boldened by my brownie success, I’m confident I’ll make them again, and maybe even get into this whole baking malarky!
I’ve got my eye on a few other recipes on the Baking Mad website: I like the look of the Christmas Cupcakes and the Cranberry Vodka… mmm yes please! I do like the look of some of their savoury dishes too, though, especially the gammon and leek pie!
Happy holidays everyone! x
Absolutely delicious—I just purred with delight as I ate mine. Thank you! x
Yay, you’re very welcome Kris! x
Yeah well done – they sound delicious indeed. Chunky squares sound good to me.
Wishing you a very happy and successful (baking) 2012
Thanks, I knew you would like them! 😀 All the best for 2012; I hope to see lots of choccy goodness from you 🙂
dark chocolate and cherries are match made in heaven, whole autumn i wanted to try but couldn’t…. now i really want to try this Catherine. wonder will this recipe be fine if i used frozen cherries than glace cherries?
I’m sure frozen cherries would be fine too, Ananda! They really are a match made in heaven; I crave them so much right now!