Fudge Torte

As predicted, I've been cooking up a storm recently. The bad news: I've been really bad at documenting this... so it begs the questions: if there isn't a photo, did it happen?

This being said, I made a new recipe for the office and it received rave reviews yesterday, so I thought I'd post about it. I don't have any photos, but this is better than nothing!  I found it on a post card, so I'm not sure who the original chef was...

Boysenberry Fudge Torte

Fudge Torte
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup butter
1/3 cup seedless preserves
1/3 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 325F. Whip sugar, eggs and yolks for about 5 minutes. Heat the utter and chocolate in a sauce pan until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the preserves. I used boysenberry jam, but I think this would be great with raspberry, or any other slighly tart berry.   Fold into egg mixture, then mix in flour and salt.  Pour into greased pan (you could sprinkle a little sugar around the edges for a little different texture).  Bake for 25 minutes. Serve chilled.

This was a super easy dish to make and everyone who has had it has enjoyed it. If I were offering this up at a dinner party, I'd probably sprinkle the top with icing sugar, or else try create a raspberry sauce/coulis and serve with some real berries.  Yum yum!

Banana Bread Loaves

In other cooking news, I've been baking a lot. I've remade those pecan muffins a few times, and am working on perfecting banana bread - I've had a few different recipes to try.  I've recently discovered that my oven is approx 25 - 30 degrees (F) hotter than the dial says, so this explains some of the cooking disasters! I've begun amending recipies to fit.  I've been experimenting with the different herbs and spices I bought when I first moved in (I think I have 50+)... but I'm not great at being adventurous with them due to fear of 'messing up' a meal. I've just bought a herb & spice book off Amazon so hopefully that'll help me learn and experiment!