A few weeks ago, my daughter’s Daisy Girl Scout Troop went on a hayride at a local farm called Bog Hollow. Bog Hollow Farm is a family-owned cranberry bog that has been in business for over 85 years, and in addition to growing and harvesting cranberries, they also offer field trips and pumpkin picking at this time of the year.
During the hayride out to the pumpkin patch, the owner of the farm, Mr. Mathias, suggested to the Daisy Scouts that the next time they make brownies, they should try adding some fresh cranberries to the batter because cranberries in brownies are really delicious! Being the only food blogger in the chaperone group – a few of the parents looked over at me after he said this – so of course, I had to try his suggestion and make some cranberry brownies!
And Mr. Mathias was absolutely correct! I used our long-time, go-to brownie recipe (the Baker’s Chocolate One Bowl Brownie Recipe) and stirred in a cup and a half of fresh, whole cranberries before baking. And – wow – these cranberry brownies are delicious!
These are dense, fudgy brownies (the best kind of brownies in my opinion) and the sweet-tart taste of the cranberries is a wonderful complement to the rich, chocolaty flavor! My husband Jack thinks that these are the best brownies he’s ever eaten – and when I brought these cranberry brownies to our last Daisy meeting, kids and grownups alike loved them too!
PrintBog Hollow Cranberry Brownies
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 16–20 pieces 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 ounces BAKER’S Unsweetened Chocolate
- 3/4 cup butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole fresh cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a 13×9-inch baking pan with foil, making sure that the piece of foil is large enough to allow the ends of the foil to extend up and over the sides of the pan. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, add the chocolate and butter and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
- Stir in the sugar.
- Blend in the eggs and vanilla, stirring to combine as much as possible (there may be some egg that doesn’t completely mix in – that is perfectly fine).
- Add flour and mix thoroughly. Then add the cranberries and stir to evenly combine.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not over bake – these are very moist and fudgy brownies.)
- Let cool completely. When cool, use the foil to remove the brownies from the pan and onto a cutting board. Cut before serving.
Notes
Recipe adapted from the Baker’s One-Bowl Brownies Recipe
You may also enjoy:
Oatmeal Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Salted or unsalted butter?
Either is fine for this recipe Jim.
I love this recipe! The combination of the sweet and the bitter cranberries is wonderful! I put a little sea salt on mine when they are done. We like to keep the brownies cold for best taste and they aren’t quite so gooey.
Thanks Sarah! Love the idea of the extra salt!
The taste was very good but I put them into the oven for the max time of 35 minutes and they were still severely underdone – like falling apart underdone. I used frozen cranberries so maybe the extra water caused it to not cook as fast. I’ll try again and keep it in the oven for 40-42 minutes.
Thanks for your feedback Jenny – it is possible that the excess moisture made the brownies softer than usual.
Hello from Central Wisconsin, another Cranberry growing area. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. My husband nd I enjoy an occasional brownie, but as of late no matter what brand of mix I purchase I end up with terrible heartburn. This recipe gave me absolutely no heartburn, Yeah. It’s also one of the moister brownies we have ever had. This recipe makes a wonderful addition to our list of favorite sweets. And having the cranberries in them actually makes them a good for diabetics desert, as long as you don’t eat to many at a time. I like to cut them in 2×2 inch squares so we can have 2 for desert. This is the first recipe we have found that does not affect our blood sugars much at all. That being said, is this recipe freezable? I hope so. We are unable to enjoy all of the brownies before they go bad. Thank you again, PJ
Hi PJ! So glad you enjoyed the brownies. We haven’t tried freezing these ourselves, but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t freeze them.
Absolutely delicious!!! I love that they are just perfectly balanced and super easy to prepare! Thanks for sharing!
You’re very welcome Annie – so glad you enjoyed the brownies!
I’m making these again5oday. Great recipe, and perfect to use up cranberries inthefreezer. I also added walnuts
Great addition Joyce – so glad you are enjoying the brownies!
I first used this his recipe 3 years ago and it has now become my Christmas tradition! Thank you for sharing! My family and neighbors look forward to it each year!
You are very welcome Athena! We were so surprised to taste how nicely the fresh cranberries and chocolate went together…it’s one of our favorites too! Merry Christmas!
Question please. I only have dried cranberries, should I plump them first for this recipe, or just use them dry?
I just read your reply to Jenn. I don’t have cranberry juice, so I am going to plump them in warm orange juice instead. Thanks Lynn
Hi again Lynn – Either will be fine. Enjoy!
Hi Lynn – We moderate our comments to avoid having spammers post links in our comment section – that’s why you didn’t see your question immediately post. I would probably just use the dried cranberries right out of the package – it won’t be exactly the same as using fresh but I think the brownies will still come out delicious!