4th of July/Summer Rhubarb-Nectarine Pie

I love rhubarb and I love nectarines. The other day when I put them together I realized that they combine in a very satisfying way. I enjoy the usual strawberry-rhubarb combination but sometimes I feel like the strawberries mute the tangy flavor of the rhubarb.
My method is just to saute the rhubarb in butter and with a few handfuls of sugar to tatse

until it is getting soft but does not lose its shape and then add the nectarine (or peach) slices at the last moment.
This mixture should be completely cooled before being added to the pie crust. I would recommend a full-coverage top crust for this pie, even though I attempted a funny star pattern for my fourth of July version...it ended up being more hassle than it was worth for probably less good results.

Baking party for a good cause

A friend of mine is involved with an organization which promotes local food and asked if I would help bake for a dinner they were having in which desserts would be auctioned off to raise money. I said, absolutely! (the truth is, I don't need an excuse like that to say yes to a baking party...but I'd rather pretend my enthusiasm was for the cause)
In any case we used local, fair trade chocolate from Theo Chocolate where she works. By the way, Theo is the first (and only?) fair-trade chocolate factory in the US and they make some amazing stuff.
My friend also rustled up some scrumptious local strawberries as part of her Strawberry chocolate pie and they also ended up as a lovely topping for my flourless chocolate cake due to an unfortunate incident when I tried (and failed) to remove it from the pan in one piece.


There was also a practically perfect vegan berry pie made that night which was amazing and I'm sure collected a hefty sum at auction.

The world's easiest flourless chocolate cake:

4 ounces chocolate chips or your favorite semi-bitter sweet chocolate.
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar (a bit less for sweeter chocolate, a bit more for darker)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling

1. Melt butter and chocolate in microwave, stir until smooth.
2. Add eggs.
3. Just barely fold in the cocoa powder (something about having the cocoa powder not quite combined makes it work way better, promise!)
4. Bake at 375 in a well buttered (or better yet parchment lined) 8 inch cake pan for about 20 minutes. This recipe is better slightly under than over done so check it often after about 15 minutes.
* you can ice it, eat it plain, eat it cold, eat it hot, eat it with ice cream, serve it with whipped cream, top it with berries, make it as delicious gluten-free brownies...be creative!