Vulture rehab

The fall Friends of the Library book sale is being held this week, and it is one to remember! Not because it was a particularly good selection—I did much better in the spring—but because Brad finally came with Mom and me, voluntarily! And not only did he not stare over my shoulder like a vulture trying to get me to leave as quickly as possible, as in the past, but this time he actually picked out some good books for himself. In fact, whereas I only spent $10 on myself (the first Friday night), Brad spent $25.* Progress!

 

Here are my buys from several visits to the book sale (as you probably could have guessed from the Successful Aging title):

This is what $30 buys you at the book sale

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*Brad would insist that I tell you here that $12 of that was for just one book: a signed, first-edition copy of The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehishi Coates, which was the only copy he could find. Cassie told him not to read it, but to instead encase it in glass because someday it will be worth "millions." I'm not so sure about that, though it already appears to be worth more than $12.

 

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I've seen different recipes for Torta Caprese, which is a flourless chocolate and almond cake hailing from the island of Capri located off the Italian mainland near Napoli. Almost all of them (like this one on Food52) have roughly equal amounts of almonds, chocolate, sugar, butter, and eggs. But I saw this one on Milk Street TV, Chris Kimball's post-America's Test Kitchen public television show, and they explained in the video that there's enough fat in the almonds that there's no need for the butter. That sounded interesting, so I gave this a shot and it was very well liked by all tasters, including Mom, Brad, Grandma and Pop-pop, and me. This is such an easy recipe, made entirely in the food processor, that it could easily become our go-to flourless chocolate dessert. My one big recommendation is to make this a day ahead of when you need it if you can, because I thought the texture was significantly better and fudgier the second day.

Torta Caprese

Adapted from Erika Bruce via Milk Street (video starting around 2:10)

Time: ~45 mintues (only 15 minutes to make the batter), not including the time to toast and cool the sliced almonds

If you can make this cake a day ahead, it has a significantly better texture the second day.

227 grams/8 ounces (~2½ cups) sliced almonds
227 grams/8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 70% to 80% cacao, such as Trader Joe’s Pound Plus 72% Cacao Dark Chocolate)
5 large eggs (~57 grams each still in the shell)
2 teaspoons (10 grams) vanilla extract
200 grams (1 cup) packed dark brown sugar
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven; heat to 350 degrees.
    2. Place the almonds on an 18-by-13-inch half-sheet baking pan. Toast until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes; watch carefully, as nuts will go from toasted to burnt in the blink of an eye. Transfer to a plate and cool to room temperature. (You can toast the almonds a few hours or days ahead to speed the cake-making process.)
    3. While the almonds are cooling, lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees.
    4. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, then spray the parchment lightly.
    5. Chop the chocolate coarsely; a serrated knife works well for this job.
    6. Crack the eggs into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Add the vanilla.
    7. In a food processor fitted with the metal “s” blade, process 185 grams (~2 cups) of the toasted almonds until finely ground, about 20 to 30 seconds. Add the chocolate and pulse until finely ground, about 15 one-second pulses. Add the sugar and salt and process until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the processor running, slowly pour in the eggs, then process until homogeneous, about 20 seconds.
    8. Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the remaining toasted almonds evenly over the top. Bake until the center feels firm when gently pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with fudgy crumbs (like brownies), about 30 minutes.
    9. Transfer to a wire rack and cool, still in the pan, for 30 minutes. Invert gently onto another rack (you may lose some of the almond topping), then re-invert onto a serving plate. Cool completely. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream if you like. Serves 10 to 12.