Dark Chocolate Torte

Every Sunday I make either a dessert or an entree for Football Sunday (it's a weekly holiday in our household) and my mom makes the other one. I wanted to make a dessert this weekend but with no flour and 3 cartons of eggs in the refrigerator, I knew there was only one dessert that I could really make. Drum-roll please...... A dark chocolate torte. Believe me, I'm so grateful for the circumstance, 'cause this torte is easy (only 5 ingredients, which I always have on hand) and delicious!

Ingredients needed:

• 16 oz dark chocolate (you can use semi-sweet as well! I always recommend a higher quality chocolate, especially for this recipe, but all I had were Nestle Dark Chocolate Chips)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 5 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and grease a spring-form pan generously! Melt the butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat.

Before

The delicious after!

Separate the eggs.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together.

Slowly beat the warm chocolate mixture into the yolk mixture until well blended.

With the mixer on high speed, blend the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Gradually beat in the 1/4 cup of powdered sugar until it dissolves and whites stand in stiff peaks.

Fold the stiffen egg whites into the chocolate mixture, one third at a time.

Spoon the batter into the pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 1 hour 10 minutes for me). Let the torte cool in the pan. When cool, remove the sides and cut into slices.

Sprinkle half of the wedges with cocoa powder and the others with powdered sugar. Arrange the slices alternately on cake plate.

I serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but it's insanely delicious just on its own! You'll want to eat more, but it's so rich you won't be able too!

Football Yarn Wreath - Go Vikings!

I've seen yarn covered wreaths everywhere lately and since I couldn't find a nice fall wreath that I liked, I figured I would try making one myself. Browsing through Joann Fabrics, I had a ton of ideas running through my mind, but all that was discarded when I saw yarn in purple and gold. It's football season and what better way to show my support for our team than with a stylish wreath on our door!

Here is my list of supplies:

• Foam wreath
• Colored yarn
• Embelleshments (I chose a wooden V and football)
• Ribbon

Since I purchased a plain wooden V, I painted a couple coats of white and then sprayed it with a matte sealer. Once that was dry, I glued the football on top of the white V so it would be ready to attach to the wreath when I finished it.

Next, I tied one end of the yarn around the foam and then continued wrapping and wrapping and wrapping, switching hands occasionally to avoid cramping!

How I started the wreath

Over half-way done!

Finished wrapping yarn!

Once finished with wrapping the yarn, I glued the embellishment to the wreath and tied a white ribbon around the top to hang it up. This was a very simple way to create a wreath that fits your style perfectly! These are a great gift and will definitely be making more for all the Viking fans in my life!