Dark Chocolate Cherry Brownies

I have been trying to pay attention to what I eat. Part of my effort has included cutting most sugar out of my daily diet. I say most because I believe in balance. Every now and then a girl needs a little chocolate. Lets face it, if I completely tried to cut all deserts out of my diet it would probably take a little over a week for me to end up sitting on the kitchen floor eating an entire cake on my own. So for the past 2 months I have been letting myself have desert once a week. This gives me something to look forward to. When I am disciplined during the week and resist the urge to eat sweets I feel like I am earning my weekend desert at which point I get to go big and not feel guilty. These brownies were inspired during a bike ride on Sunday afternoon where I road a little to far with no snacks. During one particularly hard hill climb my boss happened to drive by cheering. Luckly his sweet little girl was nice enough to share her organic gummy fish with me. Seriously those fish saved me. Needless to say I was thinking about my end of the week desert the entire way home. So here is my weekend, no guilt, go big desert:

Dark Chocolate Cherry Brownies with Walnuts

Preheat Oven: 350

Ingredients:
- 1/2 c butter
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1 c sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2/3 c all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)
- 1 c frozen, fresh or dried cherries (if you use dried then about 20min before you start to mix soak them in water so they rehydrate)
- 1/2 to 3/4 c dark chocolate chips (the quantity depends on how much you love chocolate)

Directions:
- Grease you baking pan (either 8x8x2" or 9x9x2")
- In a medium pan melt butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool
- Stir sugar into cooled chocolate and butter
- Add the eggs one at a time beating until combined then stir in vanilla
- In a separate bowl combine flour and baking soda
- Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture and stir until combined
- Fold in nuts, dark chocolate chips, and cherries

Bake about 30-35min (until a cake tester or toothpick goes into and comes out of the brownies cleanly)