Daring Bakers Challenge: Armenian Nazook

Jason from DailyCandor.com hosted our Daring Bakers' Challenge this month.  He introduced us to some Armenian delights: Nazook and Nutmeg Cake.  Not being a big nutmeg fan, I chose to make the nazook.

Nazook is a rolled cookie.  Yeasted dough gets sprinkled with a filling and rolled up, sliced, and baked.  Jason told us that the traditional filling is a vanilla one but he encouraged us to try our own versions.  So, I tried four different fillings.  Vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, and lemon.

I brought my nazook out to the neighborhood playground after school.  All the kids and moms got a chance to try them.  Among the kids the favorite flavor was cinnamon.  The adults favored the lemon.  But, really, they were all good.

Hop on over to the Daring Kitchen to find the recipes for this month's challenge and to see all the tasty creations of other Daring Baker bloggers.

Martha Monday: Crepes!

The first time I had crepes I was a newlywed.  My husband and I were settled in Wisconsin with new jobs, a tiny apartment, and real paychecks!  And what else should we do with those paychecks but spend it!  My husband likes to spend his money on fly fishing gear.  Sigh.

I, on the other hand, spend my money on food.  So, when I discovered a place tantalizingly called The Cream and Crepe Cafe, I had to go.  As soon as a forkful of their chocolate mousse-filled crepe hit my tongue, I was smitten.  Smitten enough to end up owning an actual crepe pan.

Crepes have been in my cooking repertoire for quite some time, then.  Almost twelve years to be exact.  My go-to recipe is actually an old Martha Stewart recipe, Dessert Crepes.  Vanilla and chocolate are both lovely!

Thanks to Lyndsey over at Tiny Skillet, though, I now have a new favorite crepe recipe.  I chose the Crepes with Sauteed Bananas and Chocolate and followed it almost to a T.  Only I didn't have chocolate. I did have Nutella, though.  So, instead of melted chocolate, I globbed some of that onto my crepes and caramelized bananas.  Can you tell that I got a bit carried away?  Is there such a thing as too much Nutella?

These were fabulous!  Superb!  Divine!  Yum!

And, amazingly, if you are the kind of person who stocks Nutella in your pantry, you probably don't even need to go to the store to make this dessert.  Right.  Now.