Maida Heatter brownies with cherries

Whole Foods was selling cherries yesterday for $1.99 per pound.  So I had to buy two pounds just because it was such a good deal- like how I can't not buy butter when it's on sale even though my freezer if full of butter.  Now how did I think to put the cherries in brownies you might ask?  Well the other day I made the Baked brownies from the Baked Cookbook, and they turned out ok but nowhere near as great as Oprah would have you believe.  I think I over-mixed them a little which added too much air to the batter and resulted in a cakey rather than dense brownie.  I was discussing this problem with my mom and she suggested trying a Maida Heatter Recipe from her Book of Great Chocolate Desserts.  She has one brownie that is so dense it has to sit in the fridge before you can even cut it because the center is so wet right after baking.  All I did was add a couple of handfuls of pitted and quartered cherries.

Maida Heatter's Palm Beach Brownies with Cherries
Adapted from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts

Ingredients:

• 4 squares unsweetened bakers chocolate
• 1 stick butter
• 2 eggs plus 1 yolk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 tbsp instant coffee
• 1 1/2 plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 plus 1/3 cup ap flour
• 1 cup pitted and quartered cherries

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 and line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.  In a small saucepan over medium-low heat melt the butter.  Turn off the heat and add the unsweetened chocolate and mix until combined, set aside to cool.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs, vanilla, salt, instant coffee, and sugar.  Add the chocolate mixture to the bowl and fold in just til combined.  Now add the flour and mix until nearly combined, then add the cherries and combine until flour is almost completely mixed in.  It is important not to over-mix at this point so that you get a dense brownie rather than a fluffy cakey one.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Don't bother testing the brownies with a toothpick because they will be crusty on top and gooey in the middle.  Take them out of the oven at 35 minutes and let them cool on the counter, then put them in the fridge to set up.  Maida recommends leaving them in the fridge overnight to set but I only waited a few hours before trying them.  Sooooo much better than Oprah's!!  **UPDATE**  They are even better after they sit in the fridge overnight!

*Note:  I halved the original recipe here and baked it in a 9x9 pan because I wanted to make a small batch, the original recipe calls for a 9x13 pan.