Cherry Brownie Trifles

Last summer, my friend Kim from Cravings of a Lunatic, posted a recipe for Black Forest Brownie Mini Trifles and I was instantly smitten. Even though, at the time, Valentine's Day was a long way off, I immediately thought these trifles would be the perfect dessert. So, I pinned the recipe and waited  Fast forward to this past weekend, just days away from Valentine's Day, and I went back to check out the recipe and shop for my ingredients.

Kim made her own cherry sauce and I have no doubt it was heavenly. But the thing is...it's not cherry season now. Hmm... Frozen cherries? Canned cherry pie filling? Oh, dear. In the end, I took the inspiration from my own recent Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Bundt Cake and decided to use cherry preserves and cream cheese. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind to do when I first saw Kim's trifle but the result was actually really good. Truth be told, I am not much of a brownie fan but Brian really loves them. So I only made two trifles and left the rest of the pan of brownies for him. But after he tasted the cherry trifle, he said the plain brownies were suddenly uninteresting. OK, more cherry trifles coming up! I still want to make Kim's original recipe when cherries come back into season. But for now, this will do quite nicely. Enjoy!

Ingredients
(Inspired by Cravings of a Lunatic)
1 Pan of your favorite brownies (see below for my recipe)
16 oz. Cream cheese
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Cup cherry preserves (raspberry or strawberry would also work well)
1/4 Cup water

Brownie Recipe:
4 oz. Semisweet chocolate
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Stick unsalted butter
2 Eggs
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup all purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1/4 Teaspoon salt

To make the brownies, melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler or microwave oven and allow to cool. Beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth, add in the cooled chocolate/butter mixture and continue to beat until fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend until all the flour is incorporated. Line a baking dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil and pour in the batter. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

To make the cherry cream, combine the cherry preserves and water in a small bowl and microwave for about 20 seconds. Stir well. In a separate bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar. Add the cherry preserves and stir to combine.

Assemble each mini trifle by crumbling a few brownie pieces into a dessert dish, layer on a couple of tablespoons of cherry cream and repeat the process twice more. Garnish with some whipped cream and a cherry, if desired. Makes approximately 8 servings.