Dark Chocolate Cherry Dessert Panini

Strawberries and chocolate have been more the rage lately, but dark chocolate and cherries is one of my all time favorite combinations.  I've had dessert paninis before, but they're usually made with strawberries and Nutella.  While many people rage about the wonders of Nutella, in my humble opinion it's overrated and because of the nut allergies in our family we need to stay away from it anyway. In my quest for a perfect panini dessert I found a few recipes substituted the strawberries for cherries; Nutella for hot fudge added some cherry preserves and a sandwich bun and came up with this little lovely slice of heaven. I made the sweetness in this photo on a whim for a middle of a weekday afternoon for a snack.  If making this for a special occasion I would serve it with an Amaretto infused whipped cream for dipping.

Ingredients
2 pieces of a thick sliced white bread -- seedless sandwich buns work fine.
5 cherries pitted and halved.
2 teaspoons cherry preserves such as Dickinson's Family Sweet Black Cherry Preserves
2 teaspoons chilled hot fudge
1 Tablespoon butter
Powder sugar for dusting

Directions

• Butter the tops and bottoms of both slices of bread
• Spread two teaspoons of cherry preserves on one side of the bread and top with the pitted and sliced cherries.
• Spread two teaspoons of chilled hot fudge on one side of the the other piece of bread and place on top of the cherry topped bread.
• Carefully place the sandwich on a panini press or George Foreman grill and cook for 5 minutes.
• Remove and sprinkle with powdered sugar, serve warm and eat with your fingers.

Servings

1 dessert panini sandwich


A Broken Oven Tip
If serving these for a larger party, display the sandwiches uncooked along side the panini press with cooking time instructions for a deliciously warm do-it-yourself dessert.