Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I tend to anthropomorphise inanimate objects.  My oven is Bob, the laser printer is Ralph, the car is Buddy.  But I’ve never given the food processor a name, because I’ve never been overly attached to it.  It’s over 20 years old and for the past ten of those, I’ve willed it to break, so that I could replace it.   You know how you end up sick of something, but just can’t justify replacing it because it still works?

About six months ago, something finally did give – the little button that starts the blade spinning when you close the lid broke.  As a temporary fix, Pete drilled it out so that I could operate the machine with a chopstick.  And now, bizarrely, I can’t bring myself to part with it. Pete’s been trying for months to buy me a new food processor – a whiz bang stainless steel one with multiple bowls – and I keep refusing.  It’s like the old one suddenly has personality.  So now it has a reprieve and I’ll be using it until the motor burns out.  Maybe she needs a name..any suggestions?

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It’s interesting to observe the domino effect food blogs have on each other.  I was inspired to make Dorie Greenspan’s Fifteen Minute Chocolate Amaretti Torte today by a piece that Barb wrote on her blog, Babette Feasts.  She, in turn, was baking this cake as part of a weekly bake-off run by another food blog.  The recipe is featured here and it’s a very easy cake to make – using just seven ingredients.  The  batter really does take just minutes to make in a food processor (even one that’s chopstick operated) and uses these gorgeous amaretti biscuits in place of flour.  They’re so addictive that I ate a dozen of them in the short time the mix was whizzing in the food processor (fortunately I could eat them one-handed, while operating the chopstick with the other). See how hollow they are inside?

The end result was this dense, fudgey, almond and chocolate treat.  A perfect dinner party dessert!

By the way, this recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours.  I ordered a copy from Amazon earlier this year and have made half a dozen dishes from it already.  It’s the sort of cookbook you take to bed with you at night to plan the next day’s baking.