Port and cherry brownies

Rich and decadent round brownies made with ruby port and tart dried cherries.

I got a recipe for boozy cherry brownies delivered straight to my inbox. Booyah. If that's not fate, I don't know what is.

As a food blogger, I get slammed on a daily basis with press releases and other marketing emails, wanting me to promote/review/check out whatever food-related item or information is being hawked.

Most of it is crap, but every once in a while, there's a diamond in the crap pile. Recently, the diamond was this brownie recipe.

Since the recipe comes directly from Dorie Greenspan, I knew it would be foolproof. And since it's made with port wine, bittersweet chocolate and tangy dried cherries, I knew it would be completely awesome.

And it is.

I love that they are made in muffin tins which makes them not only round (Dorie calls them "broundies") but also cutely personal-sized without the jaggedy cut edges of pan brownies.

These brownies are extra rich and really quite decadent. Very adult brownies that I would have no compunction serving as a dinner party dessert, topped with a small dollop of fresh whipped creme or roasted cherry jam.

But they also make a great mid-day snack or adult lunchbox treat. Way better than cookies.

Not that I'm slamming cookies. I mean, 'tis the season for breaking out all the killah cookie recipes -- and I will definitely have some knock-your-socks-off new ones for you next week.

But just for now, let's focus on the cute, decadent round brownies, shall we?

Port and Cherry Brownies

(from Dorie Greenspan)
Feel free to substitute dried cranberries for the cherries, if you prefer.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons port wine
2 tablespoons water
1 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat the port and water to boiling in a small saucepan and then add the cherries. Immediately reduce the heat to low and stir until the majority of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and cool.

In a heat-safe bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate and the butter, stirring until smooth.

Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the sugar, followed by the eggs (one at a time) and then the salt and pepper. Stir in the flour and then gently fold in the cherries (plus any remaining liquid).

Divide the batter evenly among 24 greased muffin tins. Bake for about 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool the brownies in the tins to room temperature and then unmold.

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