You know those brownies you see pictures of with the shiny, cracked top and gooey, fudgy centre that makes you immediately want to turn the oven on and get baking? These are them.

They are little squares of stodgy, indulgence with a devilish cherry tang and I can’t get enough of them.

I have tried countless brownie recipes and have never managed to get one that worked for me until now! I hope you find these as simple to make as I was – I felt like cartwheeling around the kitchen when I pulled them out of the oven and saw how they turned out!

Makes 16

Ingredients;

  • 200g Unsalted Butter
  • 180g Dark Chocolate
  • 3 Eggs
  • 200g Golden Granulated Sugar
  • 75g Soft Light Brown Sugar
  • 80g Plain Flour
  • 35g Cocoa Powder (70% Cocoa or over)
  • ½ Tbsp. Espresso Powder
  • 150g White Chocolate – chopped into chunks
  • 150g Milk Chocolate – chopped into chunks
  • 150g Dried Sour Cherries

Pre-heat oven to 175 Degrees Celsius (fan assisted) & line a deep 9 inch square baking tin/tray with baking parchment.

Method;

Chop the Dark Chocolate into small chunks. Place Butter & chopped Dark Chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and allow to melt. This should take around 5 minutes.

Once melted stir it together, remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Next you need to whisk the Eggs & both Sugars together until light, foamy and the mixture has doubled in size. If you have a freestanding mixer add the whisk attachment and use this to whisk the Eggs & Sugars together for around 3-4 minutes. If you don’t have a freestanding mixer just crack the Eggs and Sugars into a bowl and whisk together with a handheld whisk.

Once the Egg & Sugar mixture has been whisked and is light and foamy pour in the melted Chocolate & Butter and gently fold it all together until combined.

Next add the Plain Flour, Cocoa Powder & Espresso Powder to the mixture and again gently fold it all together until combined.

Finally add White & Milk Chocolate Chunks along with the Dried Sour Cherries. Stir the mixture together and then pour into the prepared baking tin/tray.

Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 23-25 minutes, or until the top is shiny and crackly & the mixture only wobbles very slightly when you move the tray around.

Leave to cool in the tin/tray for a couple of hours.

Once cooled remove from the tin/tray and slice into Brownie pieces – you should get around 12-16 pieces, depending on how big you cut them!

Top Tips;

  • I prefer to use whole bars of chocolate and chop into chunks myself rather than buy chocolate chips/chunks. The reason being is they stay bigger and don’t all melt away when cooked.
  • Using the combination of sugars does two things – Golden Granulated Sugar will give you Brownies that have that famous shiny, crackly top & the Light Brown Soft Sugar will make your Brownies chewy and gooey inside.
  • Espresso Powder enhances the Chocolate flavour – don’t worry your brownies won’t taste like pure Coffee!
  • Sour Cherries cut through the Brownies and stop them from being too sweet, but if you like your Brownies super Chocolatey & sweet feel free to leave it at the Chocolate Chunks!
  • The other key to gooey Brownies is not to overbake them – I go with 25 minutes in my oven but ovens do vary so make sure you test them by taking them out and wobbling the tray around, if they are really wobbly then bake them for longer!