All Recipes

Chocolate Cherry Christmas Bars

We have served these chocolate brownies with the marvelous middles several times at Christmas. This recipe has been requested over and over again. If you serve it to your guests, be prepared to tell them it came from our newest recipe book The Tea Table.

4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts

Cherry Cheese Filling
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped red maraschino cherries
2 teaspoons cherry juice
1 egg

Preheat oven to 325° F. Grease a 13x9x2 rectangular pan.

Make the cherry cheese filling by beating all of the ingredients until smooth. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring often. Remove from heat and cool. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together chocolate mixture, sugar, vanilla, and eggs for about one minute, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in flour and salt. Stir in nuts. Spread half of the batter (about 2 1/2 cups) in the pan. Spread cherry cheese filling over the batter. Carefully spread remaining batter over the filling. Swirl a knife through both batters to create a marbled design.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen bars.

The Perfect Christmas Tea!