Flourless Chocolate Cake

Okay, I rarely make something that makes me want to really toot my own horn, but this one is a winner. I am one of those people who loves really, really chocolaty desserts. This is definitely one of those. It's super dense, and perfect for sharing, which is why I'm making it for a pot luck. Give it a try! Fair warning: it is NOT low calorie! :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 6 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.
3. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
4. Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
6. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

Veggie Quiche with Hashbrown Crust

Here is part 2 of the breakfast quiche experiment from Friday. While I'd rather have my breakfast casseroles full of pork products and cheese, I recognize that not everybody I work with eats pork. So I made a very similar recipe with a few changes.

Ingredients

• 3 cups, shredded frozen hash browns, thawed
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped into 1/2" pieces
• 1/2 cup diced sweet onions
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and chopped finely
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Gently press the drained hash browns between paper towels to dry them as best as possible. In a 9-inch casserole dish or pie pan, toss the hash browns with the melted butter into the plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown..

Sautee the onions and peppers until they start to soften and caramelize, then remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients with the cooked veggies. When the hash brown crust is ready pour the egg mixture over it and return to the oven.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until the quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed.