Gooey, deep dark chocolaty, sticky cherry, chrunchy almond Christmas Brownies!
Dutch version coming soon…
After I made the drunken cherries I just had to combine them with chocolate. And since you can never go wrong with brownies, a recipe combining them with the cherries and lightly toasted almonds was quickly dreamed up.
I hope you like the combination of the different tastes and textures just as much as I do. The cherries, juicy from the liqueur and the almonds with a nice bite are comfy and cozy in their moist dark chocolate coat. I always use a very good quality chocolate and also add extra cocoa powder for a super rich chocolate taste. You will find the chocolate after taste pleasantly lingering for quite a long time…
So put on some festive holiday tunes and start baking!
Before you start baking
There are a few festive fun preparations to get out of the way before we start baking. The first thing you want to do (want, not have to!) is the drowning of the cherries in almond liqueur. It is best to do this a couple of days in advance so the liqueur can really fuse with the cherries.
If you can wait for 3 to 4 days, they will be perfect! And yes, of course you can also use them in other recipes like stollen and cakes, but you also have to try one straight from the jar. I promise you will be smiling!
Another thing you have to do in advance is lightly toast the almonds. You can toast them in a pan or toast them for 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 175ºC / 350ºF. Leave to cool before using them in the recipe.
Ingredients for the brownies
makes 16
100 g best dark chocolate (+/- 70% cocoa solids) in pieces
145 g butter in cubes
210 g sugar
2 organic eggs
115 g plain flour (all purpose)
1 tbsp cocoa powder (Dutch processed)
good pinch of salt
50 g lightly toasted almonds, roughly chopped
50 g drunken cherries (dried cherries in almond liqueur)
Icing sugar for dusting
Drunken cherries for decorating (optional)
Making the brownies
For this recipe you need a 20 cm x 20 cm / 8 inches x 8 inches square baking tin lined with parchment paper. Crinkling the parchment paper into a ball and then unfolding it makes it easier to fit the paper into the tin.
Start by weighing the ingredients. Melt the chocolate pieces and cubes of butter in a bowl over a pan of just simmering water (au bain Marie).
Preheat your oven to 180ºC/355ºF.
With an electric mixer (I use a hand mixer for this) whisk the eggs and sugar for about 1 minute at medium speed until light and foamy.
Now, mixer at low speed, gradually add the slightly cooled chocolate/butter mixture, until everything is combined. Use a sieve to add the flour, cocoa powder and salt to the chocolate mixture.
Cover the top of the chocolate mixture evenly with the flour and very gently combine the two with a spatula. Fold, making a figure eight movement 4 or 5 times. At this stage, when it’s half combined add the chopped almonds and the cherries, so they are evenly distributed through the mixture. Another 4 or 5 turns and the job should be done.
Time for the oven!
Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin, use a spatula to clean out your bowl. Make sure the mixture is evenly distributed, ease it into the corners with your spatula. Put the tin in the middle of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Check if the top has a shiny, papery crust and a pale brown color. Check if the middle part is also set by lightly pressing the top with your fingertips. Give it a few more minutes in the oven if it’s not set in the middle and check again. You want it just set and still nice and moist. Try not to overcook the brownies, just set is soooo much nicer. Take the tin out of the oven and leave the brownies in the tin to cool completely. Cut into squares, dust with icing sugar and decorate with some drunken cherries.
Merry Christmas!
PS: I also made a version of this recipes with the cherries, toasted pistachios and little chunks of white chocolate. Also very well received…
Dorothea says
This is my go-to Brownie recipe. Whenever I need it, it is there for me 😉 I’ve swaped the almonds for walnuts or pecans and also made them without the cherries – it always works! Thank you for this great recipe 🙂
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Dorothea,
Thank you for taking the time to let us know. Much appreciated. And we love the addition of pecans too!
Happy baking from Holland,
Marieke & Ed
Yang from China says
Hey Marieke,
I’ve been busy and just saw this message. Haha, the reason is I’m making these brownies again today! Thank you for your kind help. I’ve already got my eyes on your Christmas recipes and will definitely try every one of them out. I’m sorry to disappoint you but most Chinese people dont have desserts whether on holidays or not, so no, I dont have a favourite Chinese holiday recipe. As far as I know, my favourite recipes so far all come from your website. Thank you for everything.
Yang
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Yang,
Thank you for liking the recipes so much. We do like to know what is going to be your ultimate favorite once you’ve tried them all :O.
Happy Holiday Baking!
Marieke
Yang from China says
Hi Marieke,
Thank you very much for your kind reply. I will look harder. It’s getting cold so I guess our bodies just long for these brownies to warm up. I plan to try all your Christmas recipes if I can find all the ingredients. They simply look too good not to try. Will keep you updated.
Greetings from us too. My husband travles to Amsterdam often and I really wanna go as well. It’s a tiny but beautiful and free country you’ve got there. You guys should be proud of it. O(∩_∩)O
Talk to you later.
Yang
Weekend Bakers says
How wonderful to hear your husband knows our country. And I guess you are right that we are pretty lucky to have been born here. We live about 15km from Amsterdam. Hope you can visit some day soon too. If and when your husband is in Amsterdam and has some time, here’s a list of some good bakers and patisseries: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…kers-list/
And if I may add a suggestion for another Christmas recipe: These scones with the crunchy sugar topping are a big favorite over here: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…as-scones/
And over here Christmas is not Christmas without our ‘stollen’ (is a bit more elaborate but very much worth it): www.weekendbakery.com/posts…s-stollen/
Do you have a favorite Chinese holiday recipe?
Happy baking!
Marieke
Yang from China says
Also, I used to see a passage on the drunk cherries only but I couldnt fint it anywhere now. Do you just put the dried cherries in Liqueur for a few days, adding nothing else? Thanks!
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Yang,
It is still there: see under ‘before you start baking’. But it is as simple as you wrote. Just let them soak and you will see them taking on their original plump shape. This happens within a few days. Finding the dried cherries was also a big challenge for me here in Holland, but when I finally did it was just such a joyous moment, so naturally I want to use them a lot. In bread and cakes and also in muesli for example.
Keep up the very Happy Baking!
Greetings from our tiny country,
Marieke
Yang from China says
Hey guys, I made these brownies today and my husband and I loved them! Like always, thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with us. I couldnt find almond liqueur in my city so I used Balleys Irish Cream instead. It went prefectly with everything else in this recipe. My husband took the rest to his work place and people just couldnt stop eat them.I wish I could try your original with almond liqueur. I bet it must be really really nice! Well, I guess you just have to cope with what you’ve got when baking. Brownies were the wonderful result of a “failure” anyway. Be creative, that’s one of the many things I’ve learnt from you guys. Hope you had a happy day baking.
Yang
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Yang,
It is so great to hear that the effect of the brownies is exactly the same, whether your husband or mine takes them to the workplace: big success! Have you ever heard of the brand Amaretto? It is the most famous almond liqueur there is I guess. Maybe the best chance to find it would be with that name in mind. We have a local Dutch distillery that also makes almond liqueur and many other flavors which are very nice to use in cooking and baking or just a splash in your hot cocoa. Maybe there’s also a local Chinese alternative that would work well.
But I think your alternative also sounds pretty good!
Marieke
Susan says
Thanks! I am going to buy dried cherries tomorrow and try it out. I am so glad I have found your site, your recipes are brilliant.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you too and let us know how the cherries and recipe turn out!
Susan says
Those brownies look so delicious and I love the way you write about them. (Should have read this after lunch though!)
In the recipe you say to use dried cherries but the photo seems to be glace cherries. Which are the best cherries to use?
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Susan,
Thank you very much. They are indeed dried cherries but as you can read in the recipe they are steeped in almond liqueur (or amaretto as a lot of people would say) and during these 3 to 4 days they make this wonderful transformation from crinkly dry to lovely plump and juicy again. The flavors of the cherries and the almond liqueur blend together perfectly. Next to the cherries you can also use the liqueur they swim in for other recipes of course.
I have pieces of dried apricots soaking in almond liqueur, dried cherries in rum and golden raisins in orange liqueur, the possibilities are as many as there are dried fruits of course.
I also use the fruits in this cardamom cake recipe: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…some-cake/
It is my favorite winter cake to bake.
Happy Holidays and Happy Baking to you,
Marieke