Welcome to Day 11 of
The Twelve Days of Holiday Treats!
Once again, this year, from December 1st-12th I’ll post a new holiday treat recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining!
The recipes I’m sharing are small batch (perfect for this year of smaller gatherings – each recipe makes 1-dozen or a few more smaller-sized treats) that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim.
Today’s treat is a small-batch of brownies with glacé cherries and almonds folded through. Fudgy and dense, these are the perfect companion to your morning or afternoon coffee and they’re decadent enough to serve for dessert, maybe with a scoop of ice cream…
I’m not particularly fond of fruitcake for the holidays – it’s too heavy for me, mostly – but this is a nice compromise – and you could absolutely add different fruits and nuts here – I just happen to (secretly) love glacé cherries (the way they look and the way they pop in your mouth!).
Chocolate Cherry and Almond Brownies
Fudgy chocolate brownies with cherries and almonds.
Ingredients
- 60g (1/3 cup) good quality semisweet chocolate chips
- 57g (1/2 stick or 1/4 cup) salted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 50g (1/3 cup ) all-purpose flour
- 50g (1/3 cup sliced almonds)
- 80g (1/3 cup) whole glacé cherries (roughly chopped after weighing)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- Lightly grease an 8 x 5-inch loaf tin and line it with parchment paper, leaving some to hang over the edges of the tin. This will help you remove the baked brownies.
- Melt the chocolate and butter in a small bowl over a simmering pot of water until 3/4 of the chocolate is melted. You can also do this on a microwave (at 50 or 60% power for bursts of 30 seconds, stirring after each 30 seconds).
- Remove the chocolate bowl from the hot water pot/ microwave and stir to melt the rest of the chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Using an electric hand beaters or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the sugar and egg/ egg yolk until thick and creamy, approximately 4 minutes.
- Add vanilla and melted chocolate and beat until the chocolate is just mixed through.
- Add the cocoa powder and flour and mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
- Use a rubber spatula to mix through the cherries and almonds.
- Spoon the (very thick) mixture into the prepared loaf pan and use the rubber spatula to distribute the mix evenly in the tin.
- Bake for 35 minutes (for a very fudgy brownie) or 40 minutes for a slightly more baked version. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the brownie will not come out clean! The top of the brownies will be shiny and slightly cracked.
- Remove the tin from the oven and allow the brownies to cool to room temperature before you remove them from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Cut into 12 pieces and store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Recommended Products
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Stay tuned to see what tomorrow brings and in the meantime…
Check out the rest of the 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Rice Krispie Wreaths
Day 2: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Day 3: Peppermint Bark
Day 4: Orangettes
Day 5: Rocky Road Chocolate Crackle Slice
Day 6: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Day 7: Orange Pim’s
Day 8: Mendiants
Day 9: Chewy Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies
Day 10: Apricot, Coconut and Cranberry “truffles”
Day 11: Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies
Day 12: Peppermint Hot Chocolate
OR
Check out last year’s 12 Days of Holiday Cookies:
Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread
Day 2: Jam Drops
Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice
Day 4: Melting Moments
Day 5: White Christmas
Day 6: Langues de Chat
Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice
Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits
Day 9: Rocky Road
Day 10: Honey Joys
Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles
Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
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Okay, this is the first day I wasn’t thrilled with my treat. It seemed a bit discombobulated – though perhaps that makes it the PERFECT treat for 2020! 😉
Not bad at all…I just found myself thinking it could not decide whether it was a chocolate’ cherry or almond treat.
Hmm well that’s too bad – and all the more for me! And it’s supposed to be a chocolate, cherry AND almond treat! 😉