Cherry, chocolate, walnut whole wheat bread

phew, just writing that title made me tired. this was not originally what i planned to make at 7am but the grocery store was conspiring against me. because the bananas are merrily greenish yellow but i still wanted to bake i figured i would make some pumpkin chocolate chip bread, BUT, after haunting the grocery store for 30 minutes and not finding it i decided it just wasn't meant to be.

so instead i bought a bag of frozen dark cherries (i had wanted cranberries, but i couldn't find fresh or frozen!) and this is what i ended up creating...

i was stealing bits of cherry as i cut them in half. yum! the recipe was definitely a fiddle as i go kind of thing. the bread is a little too sweet and doesn't hold together very well, but who am i to turn down chocolate and walnuts. not so sure about the cherries, but i will continue eating them to find out!
the other problem may have come from my strange obsession to base this recipe off of the banana bread in the Everything Cookbook...

Cherry, Chocolate chip, walnut whole wheat bread (say that 3 times fast!)

1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup instant oats

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

about 1 cup apple sauce

½ cup water

2 eggs

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 ½ cup halved frozen dark cherries, tossed in whole wheat flour (not sure if necessary)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two loaf pans and flour the bottom of the pans (or you can make 1 larger loaf, they come out pretty shallow). Mix flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl add the apple sauce and water. Mix eggs in one at a time. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts. Slowly mix in the flour mixture. After mixing add the cherries. Scoop into bread loaves and bake about 25 minutes.

the chocolate chips were a bit overpowering so i would cut that back a bit. i can't taste the oats, but the whole wheat flour definitely gives the bread a very hearty and dense flavor. i wonder what it would taste like with white flour?