Crescent Roll Baklava

If you haven't noticed yet by all of my dessert blogs here, dessert is by far and above my favorite part of a meal.  This week I am bringing you a super simplified version of baklava, my adaptation of Pillsbury's Quick Crescent Baklava.  If you ever wanted to make this at home but were too scared by what appears to be a complicated recipe then this is the baklava for you!  Not only does it take half the work of regular baklava, I think the flaky, buttery goodness of the crescent rolls adds a whole other layer of yummy!

Cappuccino Cheesecake

Last summer one of my closest friends got married, and a few weeks before the wedding I found out that she was going to be home alone during her fiancee's overnight bachelor party.  As one of her bridesmaids I couldn't let that happen, so I invited her over for an evening of girl talk and cappuccino cheesecake.

(Anybody who has been following this blog since its beginnings may remember some comments from a friend of mine asking for something with cappuccino in it.  Well this would be that friend.)

The recipe for this cheesecake can be found here.  As you can see from the picture I baked it just a tad bit too long, but that didn't seem to affect the taste at all.  The major hurdle for me was that this was my first baked-from-scratch cheesecake, and where the recipe tells you to "check for doneness by shaking gently," I was not very sure what I was looking for.

All in all this was still a very tasty recipe, and I'd encourage any of you to try it out.  As for me, I think I'll be sticking with my no-bake cheesecake recipes for the time being.

Cheesecake

Chocolate Chip Applesauce Cake

A few months ago I was poking around my Google Reader and came upon a most delicious-looking recipe for applesauce cake over at Noble Pig. First, if you haven't read the blog before, go check it out. I'm not sure what's better, the story-telling, the recipes, or the wonderful photography. Seriously, that is the kind of blogger I aspire to be. But I digress.

I leave you to explore the Noble Pig's blog for the recipe. Even though the recipe came from scratch it was incredibly simple to put together. To illustrate, you'll use one bowl and no mixer. How simple is that? And look how yummy it looks when you cut into it:
I'm still not quite sure how this made it out of the house whole, but now that I've tried this once, I don't think I'll be so lucky the next time I make it.

Great Canadian Heinz Ketchup Cake

In honor of Canada Day (today, July 1) this week's recipe comes to us straight from the great white north. A few weeks ago my friend Stacie found this recipe for ketchup cake on Heinz Canada's website and I knew I just had to try it out. And I think if you wanted to throw some blueberries on top for decoration, this could totally work July Fourth celebrations, for those of us in the US.

Now before you get all worried about eating a cake with ketchup in it, don't. The recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of it, and includes cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, so you really can't taste the ketchup at all. It's really just another spice cake recipe with a wicked-tasty cream cheese frosting.

Ziti Bake Cake

Welcome back to A Dash of Nutmeg! My life has been going in at least a million directions over the past, well... year, actually. So as an unfortunate side effect I had to take some time off from this blog to take care of a few neglected things. But I'm happy to say that I'm back, along with a whole bunch of new, yummy recipes!

Today's recipe is an inventive twist on the classic ziti bake, a dish that normally consists of ziti and meat sauce together in a dish, topped with cheese, and baked in the oven. Now if you hadn't already noticed, I'm a huge fan of Italian food, so I was very excited when my mom showed me this recipe that she found somewhere. Not to steal Emeril's thunder, but this recipe takes a traditional ziti bake and kicks it up a notch!