BVC Eats: Brownies with whisky-soaked cherries

JENNIFER STEVENSON’S
TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
WITH WHISKY-SOAKED CHERRIES

This recipe is re-posted because these brownies are so easy to make, and because I bake them about every 10 days. No, we do not eat four pounds of brownies every ten days. But we bring them to doctor’s appointments, writers’ meetings, barbecues, pot lucks, and the health club. Brownies are the universal social solvent.

Here are the richest, most evil brownies you will ever eat. They’re quick to prepare as long as you soak the cherries in advance. I keep a jar of cherries soaking in whisky at all times. So at least one night before you bake, and up to weeks or months beforehand, locate:

1-1/4 cup dried sour cherries, such as purchased from CostCo
2/3 cup whisky, brandy, rum, your choice OR 1/3 cup morello cherry syrup and 1/3 cup hot water

Pack the cherries into a jar that has a waterproof lid. (I use a plastic jar that used to contain a pint of ice cream.) Pour in enough liquor (or syrup & water mix) to cover the cherries. Seal tightly. Refrigerate at least overnight. If you’ve really screwed up and forgotten to soak your cherries, put the jar uncovered in the microwave oven for 1 minute. Cover, shake, repeat warming without the cover, until the cherries are quite warm to the touch.

The day you bake you will need:

2 sacks Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix, such as purchased from CostCo
10-oz package Ghirardelli 60% cacao dark chocolate chips, plus three handfuls more (about 3 cups total)
2 very large eggs, room temperature
12 Tablespoons butter (that’s 1+1/2 sticks)
Powdered unsweetened baking cocoa, about 1/2 cup
2 Tablespoons coarse-grain sea salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Put butter in a baking pan and put baking pan in the oven while it preheats, until butter melts. I use a giant heart-shaped pan, but a 9×13-inch pan also works.

While the oven preheats, microwave the cherries on high for 1 minute, then drain, reserving the liquid. You should have about 2/3 cup of warm cherry-infused liquid. If not, add liquor or warm water to make 2/3 cup. Dump the warm cherries and liquid back together into a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix both brownie mix sacks with the dark chocolate chips.

When the butter in the baking pan is melted, remove the pan from the oven and swish the melted butter around to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Pour the melted butter in with the cherries and liquid. (Drain the baking pan well.) Stir the melted butter into the cherries to cool it. For extra fancy, sprinkle the buttered bottom and sides of the pan with 1T coarse salt like kosher salt or coarse sea salt.

Dust bottom of the baking pan with cocoa powder. This uses a lot of cocoa, maybe 1/2 cup. Don’t worry if there’s extra cocoa powder in the pan.

Beat the eggs separately, about 200 strokes. Add the beaten eggs to the melted butter and cherries and stir until until well mixed.

With the minimum number of strokes, stir liquid ingredients into dry ingredients–only 10 to 15 slow strokes. It’s okay if there are a few patches of dry brownie mix dusting the batter here and there.

Dump the batter into the pan. It will be super thick and chunky. Spread it out flat with a spatula. Sprinkle with more coarse sea salt. Bake 55 minutes at 325 degrees. The brownies will be soft to the touch in the center when done. DON’T OVERBAKE.

Cool at least 15 minutes. The brownies will still be fabulously gooshy and warm after cooling for 15 minutes. If you want the brownies to be firm before you cut them, cool them for at least 2 hours, or refrigerate, but be aware that the colder they are, the harder they’ll be to cut. The extra chocolate chips harden in the fridge.

Eat them warm for a terminal chocogasm, alone or with ice cream and a glass of red wine. Have a friend handy to take them away from you after you’ve eaten a pound or so. It eases the guilt.