What could be better than cherries and chocolate? This moist sweet chocolatey bread is a great way to enjoy the early fruits of summer. What a way to get your serving of fruit . It can be enjoyed with a cup of coffee with breakfast or a scoop of ice cream for dessert.

Oh my my… the cherry season is here for a short time here in California. When the price dips to .99 cents a pound I get a little excited. 

I happened to have all I needed for these decadent chocolate chip cherry bars so I made a batch. It takes a little bit of time to pit fresh cherries, but it is worth it and kind of fun once you get the hang of it. More on that later..

But first the Recipe

1 cup salted melted butter ( I prefer salted but it’s up to you)

2 cups light brown sugar

2 large eggs 

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp almond extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp  salt 

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups fresh  pitted cherries, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Melt the butter. I like melting it in a small bowl or glass measuring cup in the microwave, It saves a little time.

Put the melted butter in a medium-sized bowl, add the 2 cups light brown sugar,mix well.

Add the 2 large eggs, mix well with a fork or whisk

add the 4 tsp of extracts, mix well

THEN add the flour and salt JUST UNTIL COMBINED. (overmixing will start gluten to form and make the bar tough)

Fold in the 2 cups roughly chopped fresh cherries and the chocolate chips.

Put in a 9×13 baking dish and smooth out. 

Bake in the oven for 35min or until edges are slightly pulling away from sides and they are golden brown.

Cool for an hour before cutting…

or 

Refrigerate overnight.

Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.

Yum Yum. this is a rich dense treat. Did you notice it doesn’t have any leavening? Except for the eggs.  It is reminiscent of a blondie ( like a brownie without cocoa) The cherries are a little tart and the chocolate chips are sweet. I think adding some walnuts would be delicious, and if you wanted to go WILD, maybe do 1/2 white chocolate chips and 1/2 dark chocolate chips AND Walnuts.

A scoop of ice cream or whipped cream would be an awesome way to finish these bad boys off as well. 

This recipe can be made in a glass 9×13 pan, for thinner bars, I used a smaller 7x 11 glass dish so they will be extra thick. The recipe can also be cut in half and made in an 8 x8 pan if you don’t want a lot. 

I like Chocolate chip cherry bars cold so I am keeping mine refrigerated, they will also keep for a few months well wrapped in the freezer. 

P.S.

** How to pit a cherry ?** any way you can ! 

They do make cherry pitters... and it makes the job easy. Yet, I don’t mind getting messy, in fact, it’s kind of fun. Cherries are seasonal, I personally don’t want a tool that only gets used once a year. Thus, I use a straw to pit cherries…WHAT ??  

A regular plastic straw WILL work but I used a more sturdy eco-friendly bamboo straw to do the trick. ( other sticks like chopsticks etc work too, I like the straw because the pit gets easily pushed out the bottom of the cherry. As long as the implement is sturdy and preferable smaller than the pit, you are good! Start at the top near the stem and push. The pit should easily pop out the other side.

Summer is just about here. So please go out and enjoy the fresh fruit. Have the kids or partner help pit, enjoy a dessert together.