Late posting this week after the hiatus caused by too full cup of long abandoned tea being poured over lap top keyboard while cup en route to the kitchen. Death of lap top instant; bullet bitten and new one purchased, set up … and adored … (Mac Book Air 13″ instead of my former 11″, twice as much memory as the last one and not much heavier). Now for extra vigilance with coffee cups – perhaps not so easy…

The church biscuit: 57. Fresh cherry and chocolate brownie

Last week daughter No 3 baked some brownies using fresh cherries for church on Sunday. I wasn’t sure whether the very moist nature of cherries would work in a brownie and whether the cherry taste would make itself apparent, but its always worth trying as using fresh fruit feels so much the right thing to be doing at this time of year. And this year the cherries just seem to keep on coming – the trees in the churchyard, those lining the road by the farm at the cross roads  and wild cherries in hedgerows are all still full of fruit. I’ve also just been given a punnet full of locally picked cherries in thanks for a monogram. Everybody is picking and picking, yet still they hang invitingly from the tree.  I’m still worried by how few birds there are to strip this largesse from the trees and just hope it’s because all other hedgerow trees have been so fruitful … I have yet to convince myself – there even seem to be fewer pigeons.

The church biscuit: 57. Fresh cherry and dark chocolate brownie

Ingredients

100 g smooth dark chocolate, chopped

100 g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

200 g light soft brown sugar

2 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten

50 g SR flour

50 g wholemeal flour

150 g fresh cherries, pitted and halved

(10-12 glacé cherries chopped small – not at all necessary in the event as the real things were sufficiently luscious)

The church biscuit: 57. Fresh cherry and dark chocolate brownie

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4.

Grease and line an 18cm square cake tin with baking paper

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Grease and line a 20 cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Put the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, until melted. Remove and let it cool slightly.

Put butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and pale. Gradually add the eggs, then the flour and the melted chocolate. Mix until smooth. 

Fold in the cherries and pour the mixture into the tin. Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool completely in the tin before turning out and cutting into squares.

We left this in the tin overnight and were able to cut it in 25 pieces the next day.

Cherries and chocolate are a fantastic combination and unite to make a moist yet not too sweet brownie. Excellent. (Forget the glacé cherries).