Since it’s impossible to have too much of a good thing, let’s take another run at cherry bars again.

Susan Bender of Camano Island starts us off with a two-chocolate whammy that offers a choice of cherries.

“I made this with fresh cherries from our orchard this summer,” she says.

You’ll notice her recipe has options for the flavoring, about which Susan notes, “I used cognac.”

Coconut in the crust and topping, plus cream cheese in the filling, supply a totally different twist in today’s second recipe, which is the last of several shared by Everett cook Lavon A. Woodey.

Black Forest brownies

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (1 cube) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

8 ounces pitted sweet red cherries, if in season, or pitted, unsweetened, frozen bing cherries, thawed and drained

1-1/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon kirsch, Chambord, cognac or almond extract

3/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a double boiler, melt the chocolates together with the butter, until smooth and fluid. While the chocolate mixture is melting, dice the cherries.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs. Whisk in chocolate mixture and flavoring of choice. Mix in the flour, salt and baking powder. Gently mix in the diced cherries and spread batter in the prepared pan.

Bake until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out almost clean, but with a little batter on it, up to 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let brownies cool in the pan.

When ready to serve, place a plate or cutting board on top of the pan. Invert and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Cut brownies into 2-inch squares. Cover and store leftover brownies in the refrigerator.

Makes one 8-inch pan.

Cherry cheese bars

Crust/topping:

1/2cup chopped walnuts

1-1/4cups flour

1/2cup brown sugar

1/2cup angel-flake coconut

Filling:

2packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

2/3cup sugar

2eggs

2teaspoons vanilla

1can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling

For the crust/topping, in medium mixing bowl, combine the walnuts, flour, brown sugar and coconut, mixing well. Reserve 1/2 cup of mixture for topping. Press remaining mixture onto bottom of greased 9-by-13-inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, for the filling, in another mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth and thoroughly combined.

When baked, remove crust from oven and spread the filling over the hot crust. Return to oven and bake another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and spread the pie filling over the cheese layer. Sprinkle with the reserved coconut mixture, return to oven and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool, then refrigerate several hours before serving. Cut into 1-1/2 to 2-inch bars. Store leftover bars in the refrigerator

Makes about 36 bars.

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The next Forum will appear in Wednesday’s Food section.