Roasted Cherry Brownies

Yeah, I stole one before I took the picture. I had to make sure these were good before I blogged about them!

I had some trouble with these brownies. Specifically, I forgot to set a timer so I have no idea how long they baked for. Clearly, I was doing too many things in the kitchen at once. Normally, I have enough of a sense of time to be able to guess, but when I realized there was no timer running for these I truly had no clue how long it had been. When I examined them, I thought they might be nearly done, so I started setting the oven timer for 5-7 minutes at a time, checking them, and popping them back in the oven. After twenty plus minute of this, after they finally puffed up, I remembered what brownies look like when they're done and decided they were close. A few minutes later, I finally removed them out of sheer exhaustion. The bad news? They're a bit underdone. The good news? They're a bit underdone.

These brownies are deliciously fudgey and moist. The added moisture from the incomplete baking process is not a problem in my book. The cherries add a wonderful richness - the flavor manages to permeate most of the brownie (perhaps from the extra juice from roasting?). I take some credit here because out of the eight varieties of cherries we picked last week, I chose the richest ones for this recipe. The result is a moist, extremely chocolatey but richly fruity treat. Definitely a winner. I'm really sad I have to pack these into the freezer, since we're suffering (wink wink nudge nudge) from a surfeit of cherry-laden treats right now.

Roasted Cherry Brownies
Slightly adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures. 

2 c fresh cherries
1 1/4 c + 2 tbsp sugar, divided
5 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used my preferred chocolate chips - Ghirardelli 60% cacao)
2 oz unsweetened chocolate (I used some Scharffen Berger that I've been trying to get rid of - it's not my favorite chocolate because it has a strange fruity aftertaste, but I (correctly) assumed it would work well with actual fruit)
1/2 c butter, cut into 8 pieces
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 c flour

Preheat oven to 450° F. Line a small baking dish with foil. 

Halve and pit the cherries, then toss with 2 tbsp sugar. Spread inside the foil-lined baking dish.

Roast the cherries 9-10 minutes until they are softened and juicy. Set aside to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F.

Meanwhile, finely chop your chocolate (chocolate chip-sized pieces are fine) and combine with the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (I prefer to bring the water to a boil first, turn off the heat, and melt the butter and chocolate with the remaining steam). Stir with a rubber spatula until the butter and chocolate have melted and are well combined. Whisk in the cocoa powder, then set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Slowly whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture until well combined. Fold in the flour with a rubber spatula, then carefully fold in cherries.

Transfer the batter to an 8 x 8" baking dish lined with foil (make sure the foil overhangs the edges for easy removal later). Bake 35-45 minutes, until tester comes out relatively clean (or leave a little underbaked, like me, and have super-fudgey brownies!). Remove to a wire rack and completely cool before cutting.