Cherry Chocolate Chunk Blondies with Cherry Frosting

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If you were sick of my gazillion blondies before, you sure aren't now.  Know why?  Because these ones have chocolate.

Oh yes.  Chocolate.

You know, I never thought I'd say this but there is a time and place for chocolate... which happens to be now and here... but personally, I don't think chocolate would match very well in some of my previous fruit-flavored blondies.  I couldn't imagine chocolate tasting very good in my Peach Blondies, nor could I see it pair well in my Blueberry Muffin Blondies, Strawberry Blondies or Raspberry-Lemon Blondies.

But Cherry Blondies?  Yeah, chocolate will fit right in!

Not only are these blondies sweet and chewy, they are incredibly decadent and packed full of fresh, natural cherry flavor.  One bite of these and you will swear they are unhealthy!

Cherry Chocolate Chunk Blondies with Cherry Frosting:  [low fat/sugar, high fiber, GF, vegan]
(makes 8 slices in a cake pan or 9 bars in a brownie pan)

   Blondies:
      1+1/2 cups Fresh Cherry Puree (see directions)
      96g (1/2 cup) Granulated Erythritol (or dry sweetener of choice)
      14g (1 tbs) Coconut Oil, liquid (or any other neutral oil)
      3/4 tsp Stevia Extract

      160g (1 cup) Brown Rice Flour
      120g (1 cup) Oat Flour (GF if you like)
      1 tsp Xanthan Gum
      1/2 tsp Baking Powder
      1/2 tsp Salt

      1/4 cup Dark Chocolate Chunks (I used Enjoylife)

   Frosting:
      90g (3/4 cup) Powdered Erythritol
      2-3 tbs Fresh Cherry Puree
      1/2 tsp Lemon Juice

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9" cake pan or 9" brownie pan with oil, set aside.
2.  Pit the cherries (I used a cherry pitter, double check to see that all the pits have been removed!!).  Puree in a blender until smooth.  Measure 1.5 cups and pour into a large mixing bowl, reserve any extra puree for the frosting.
3.  Whisk the erythritol, oil and stevia into the cherry puree.
4.  In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the brown rice flour, oat flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt.  Dump into the wet ingredients and fold together (batter should be thick and doughy).
5.  Scoop batter into the prepared pan and spread to the edges.  Press the chocolate chunks into the surface (or fold them into the batter after the previous step) and bake for ~41 minutes, or until the edges have browned.
6.  Let blondies cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then transfer onto a wire cooling rack.
7.  For the frosting, mix the ingredients together and spread onto the blondies once they have cooled.  Slice and serve.

Can you believe one of these giant blondie wedges contains only 5g of fat?  And can you believe that with such comforting decadence you also get 4g of fiber, 5g of protein, healthy fruit and whole grains?

So don't be afraid to grab a second serving, you will actually receive benefits rather than consequences!