Roasted Cherry Brownies

I was looking back through my posts from the last few weeks, and I noticed that almost every single one features summer produce.  I hope no one minds though - it's just hard to cook with anything else when there are so many great fruits and veggies available.  I know that almost everyone else hates summer and counts down the days to fall, but for me it's the opposite.  I get sad when I think about losing tomatoes, corn, peaches, and cherries.  Not to mention daylight, warm weather, and flip flops. This may be considered blasphemy in the blogging community, but give me summer produce over pumpkins and winter squash any day of the year. 

Since cherries come in a very close second as my favorite fruit behind peaches, I knew I NEEDED to make these brownies as soon as possible.  Cherry season is sadly drawing to a close, so I wanted to send them out with a bang.  It's hard for me to cook with cherries, since I usually eat an entire bag just as snacks or in a salad or something, but these brownies are certainly worth sacrificing 2 cups of cherries for.

I had seen this basic idea on a few blogs, but when my girl Annie posted the recipe I knew I needed to go with her version.  She uses my favorite basic brownie recipe and mixes in roasted cherries for an incredibly rich dessert.  I made a pan of these one afternoon, and took a few outside to our neighbors while our kids played together.  Even though this was over a week ago, every time I see him now he still talks about these brownies.  I offload treats on them fairly often, but he said this is his favorite thing that I've ever made.

If you like chocolate and you like cherries (and really, who doesn't?), then I highly recommend that you make these as soon as you can - cherries won't be around much longer!  In fact, I think I need to make them once (or twice) more myself....


Roasted Cherry Brownies
barely adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from The Pastry Affair and Baking Illustrated

• 2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and halved
• 1¼ cups plus 2 tbsp. sugar, divided
• 5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into quarters
• 3 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Toss the cherries and 2 tablespoons of the sugar together in a small baking dish.  Cook for 10 minutes, or until the cherries start to release their juices.  Remove from oven and reduce the temperature to 350 degrees.

Line a 9x9 inch baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray or grease with butter.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, and butter.  Microwave at 50% power for 30 second intervals, stirring well after each time until the chocolate is melted.  Whisk in the cocoa powder and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, remaining sugar, vanilla, and salt until well combined, about 15 seconds.  Whisk in the warm chocolate mixture until well-incorporated, then use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour until it is just combined.  Gently fold in the cherries and their juices.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula to make an even layer.  Cook for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, and the brownies are slightly puffed.

Remove from oven and allow to cool at least 2 hours before slicing.  To serve, use the foil to lift the brownies from the pan and then cut into squares.