These cherry brownies are what happens when two great friends – chocolate and cherries – come together. Every bite of rich, fudgy brownie is studded with fresh, sweet pops of cherry and they’re truly scrumptious.
They start with my go-to brownie base and get studded with fresh cherries (or frozen) and chocolate chips. Quick and easy to make, they’re pure comfort baking at it’s best.
Never Miss a Recipe!
Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox.
❤️ Why you’ll love it
- My fail-proof brownie base – rich, fudgy, never dry
- Fresh or frozen cherries – for baking all year round
- Super quick and easy to make – no fancy equipment, just mix and bake
- Deeply chocolatey with pops of fruity tartness
- Perfect for parties or potlucks or add ice cream for a truly decadent dessert
Ingredients & substitutions
Cherry brownies just need 10 ingredients – most of which you’ll have on hand.
Jump to the recipe card for full quantities and instructions.
- Cherries: You can’t have brownies with cherries without the cherries. I use fresh cherries here but you can use frozen. Keep them frozen right up until you add them to the batter.
- Flour: Just regular plain flour / all purpose flour.
- Chocolate chips: Dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips are best here as they add that chocolate hit without adding more sweetness on sweetness.
- Dark chocolate: The same goes for the chocolate. I like a good quality baking chocolate with 70% cocoa solids here. Don’t use milk chocolate.
- Sugar: Both brown sugar and white sugar are used to give these cherry brownies sweetness but also the right amount of chewiness too.
- Cocoa powder adds to the chocolate flavour. You can use regular unsweetened cocoa powder or Dutch process cocoa powder.
How to make cherry brownies
Making cherry-filled brownies is easy. The eggs and sugar are beaten together until thick and pale which helps with that classic crackly brownie top. Add to that some melted butter and chocolate, then basic dry ingredients. Pour that into a pan with chocolate chips and cherries and bake.
You can use a cherry pitter to keep things cleaner and quicker but I tend to just slice around the centre of the cherries with a sharp knife, then pull the stone out with my fingers. You can pit the cherries a day in advance if it helps with timing.
Jump to the recipe card for full quantities and instructions.
1. The chocolate and butter
Gently heat and melt together the butter and chocolate in a saucepan. A heavy based saucepan is best here to prevent your chocolate from burning. Set that aside.
2. The eggs and sugar
To get that classic crackly brownie top and a little lift, beat together the sugar and eggs until thick and pale.
3. The chocolate mix
Now beat in the chocolate-butter mixture.
4. The dry ingredients
Now, fold in the dry ingredients along with some of the cherries and chocolate chips.
5. Finish and bake
Pour the chocolate cherry brownie batter into a lined baking pan then dot the remaining cherries and chocolate chips over the top. Bake until a toothpick comes out with some sticky crumbs attached (not wet batter).
Tips and tricks
- Weigh the flour and cocoa powder for the best results. While I offer cup measurements in my recipes, they can be risky to use in baking since the different ways of filling them can results in vastly different amounts of flour. But 1 gram = 1 gram everywhere. Plus, using a kitchen scale means you can measure directly into your mixing bowl and you don’t have a bunch of cup measures to wash up.
- Melt the chocolate and butter gently so as not to overheat the chocolate.
- Make sure to beat the sugar and eggs until thick and pale to get that perfect crackly top.
Storage
Room temperature
I don’t recommend storing these brownies at room temp since they contain fruit.
Refrigerator
Store your cherry brownies in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Freezer
Store in an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months.
FAQs
Don’t overbake them. Brownies, because they’re so dense and contain a fair amount of sugar, get very hot in the centre, so when you take them out of the oven, they tend to carry-over bake – the heat within them will keep baking them. Poke a toothpick into the centre and it should come out with fudgy crumbs but not wet batter.
Yes, frozen cherries work beautifully in these cherry-filled brownies. Use them straight from the freezer – do not thaw them first.
Yes, you can use a 9 inch square baking pan but your brownies will be thinner than shown in these images.
Make sure the brownies have cooled completely. Use a very sharp knife and rinse it in warm water after ever cut.
If you love brownies that are rich, fudgy and super indulgent, these cherry brownies are a winner! The pop of cherry in every bite is irresistible. If you make them, I’d love to hear how you like them – and if you manage to share 😉
More recipes you’ll love
You’ll love these easy brownie and cherry recipes too.
If you try this easy cherry brownies recipe,
show it some love with a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you!
Hungry for more?
- Subscribe via Email, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
- Add Sugar Salt Magic as a Google Preferred Source.
Ingredients
- 142 g unsalted butter (5oz)
- 115 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) finely chopped (4oz)
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- ¾ cup white granulated sugar (150g / ~5 ¼oz)
- ½ cup packed brown sugar (100g / 3 ½ oz)
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 95 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (¾ cup / ~3 ½oz)
- 25 g unsweetened cocoa powder or Dutch process (¼ cup / ~1oz)
- ½ teaspoon salt (cooking salt / kosher salt)
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- 2 cups fresh cherries (or frozen) pitted and sliced in half
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F and line an 8 inch square baking pan with baking paper.
- Melt together butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat – don’t let it steam or bubble. Set aside to cool slightly.142 g unsalted butter, 115 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together for 2 minutes until it looks thick, pale and fluffy.3 large eggs , ¾ cup white granulated sugar, ½ cup packed brown sugar
- Add the vanilla then slowly pour in the chocolate mixture whilst beating.1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, chocolate-butter mixture
- Sift over the flour, cocoa powder and salt and beat on low until just combined. Start with the beaters in the middle until it starts coming together or the mixture might fly all over the place.95 g plain flour (all purpose flour), 25 g unsweetened cocoa powder or Dutch process, ½ teaspoon salt (cooking salt / kosher salt)
- Reserve a handful of chocolate chips and half of the cherries, then stir the rest into the brownie batter.½ cup dark chocolate chips, 2 cups fresh cherries (or frozen) pitted and halved
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan then scatter over the remaining cherries and chocolate chips.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out with some sticky batter attached but not liquid batter. Let them cool to room temperature.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission for my referral, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Salt Magic.
