In partnership with Chocolove.
Loaded brownies smash my favorite fruit, my favorite nuts, and my favorite dessert together into major chocolate bliss! Cherries and almonds are such a perfect natural pairing with cocoa beans: sweet and crunchy and incredibly, indulgently rich.I’m so obsessed with these amazing dark chocolate bars crammed with dry roasted almonds and dried cherries that I finally had to turn them into an all-out dessert, so here we are. Making brownies from scratch shows a little extra love and also lets us melt really really great chocolate into the batter. Pro tip: make sure you have milk because it’s a majorly essential part of the brownie-eating experience.
How do you roll, cakey brownies or fudgy brownies? Personally, I’m all about the can-we-really-even-call-these-brownies level of gooey fudge. This recipe strikes a really great compromise: the bottom half is light like cake, the top half stays fudgy thanks to getting loaded up with cherries and almonds. Crowd-pleasing all around!
I’m dying to make these brownies with fresh summer cherries, but you can still get that pop of brightness in the winter with frozen fruit. Fresh versus frozen matters a lot less when we’re baking fruit slowly to pull those yummy juices out.
There’s a certain pink-and-red holiday coming up in just a few short weeks, so consider this your reminder and your date night dessert inspiration. Just saying, cutting these sweet brownies into heart-shaped bites? Doesn’t get much cuter or more delicious than that.
I can eat cherries by the pound in the summer, but they’re especially sweet in winter when I have them less often. What’s your favorite way to get a taste of summer fruit in wintertime?
Loaded Cherry Almond Brownies
Ingredients
- 6 oz. Chocolove Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate or other 55% dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1 t. almond extract
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 cup cherries pitted & roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Bring a small pot of water to a rapid simmer, then set a large saucepan on top to create a double boiler.
- Stir the chocolate and butter in the large saucepan until fully melted and glossy. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Stir in brown sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and almond extract. Add eggs one at a time, stirring constantly.
- Add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix just until combined. Pour into an 8x8 baking dish lined with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle almonds and cherries across the top.
- Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes until slightly risen and almonds are golden brown. Let cool in the dish for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
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