Brownies and fudge and cherries with wine… oh my!
These are just some of my favorite things about Michigan.
I am a fan of many of the Michigan wineries and, while I enjoy a good grape wine, I am just crazy about the tart cherry wines from my state. I like tart cherries plain or in desserts or dried and in salads. I am a fan of the fruit any way it is served, despite having participated in cherry harvest as a teen and spending long days in a cherry orchard while we went from tree to tree from sun up to sun down. Honestly, the hours were long but I enjoyed the work back then. I had the relatively easy job of filling the water tank with cherries after the shirtless farm boys rolled in the freshly shaken cherries on the tarps. I also could eat all the cherries I wanted out of the tank. I never did tire of the taste of the cherries, nor did I ever tire of watching the young farm boys lift those tarps…
Anyway.
The Traverse City Tart Cherry Topping can be made without the fire shown in the video. That was just for fun. Any alcohol over 70 proof will work once the wine and juices from the cherries have had a chance to reduce. A cherry vodka would be great for this food trick, too.
Mackinac Island fudge is another favorite food of mine and the taste of that, too, brings back fond memories. I have been to Mackinac Island several times in my youth and, of course, I have sampled and purchased and hoarded many varieties of the island’s signature treat. While this recipe is for a fudge sauce, it does taste like a smoother liquid version of the fudge I have had on the island.
Last, the brownies can be cut into squares or fancy shapes when serving. I understand that cutting the brownies with cookie cutters can create a lot of not-so-uniform “scrap” brownies but the video shows you how to make a dish out of the brownie pieces, too.
Enjoy and happy Michigan eating!
Chocolate Brownies with Mackinac Island Fudge Sauce and Traverse City Tart Cherry Topping