Sunday Special: Toasted Almond Parmesan Dip

.  Have you all been keeping up with March Madness?  For those of you who care, I mean.  As you know, Robbie and I are pretty avid sports followers, so we've been all about it.  Brackets filled out [mine's doing rather well, I must add], watching all of the games we've been able to, and we even went to some of the second round games held here in Omaha.  It's been a good March!


And to go along with all of this game watching, you know I've been perusing all sorts of appetizer recipes.  Gotta have game time snacks, right?!

So the latest recipe that grabbed my attention comes from How Sweet It Is.  I pinned this recipe a while ago and knew it'd be making an appearance on our kitchen table for whatever excuse I could conjure up.  Creamy cream cheese,  sharp parmesan, and toasted almonds.  Can you blame me?  I think not.

I made this fan-taaaastic dip to bring over to Robbie's parents house to watch the some of the March Madness games.  I absolutely fell in love with it and I'm fairly certain everyone else did, too.  Between Robbie, his dad, and myself, about half of the dip got eaten [and that's with a dinner of pizza].  So that's saying something!  I did try to lighten the dip up a bit by using light cream cheese and I probably wouldn't do that next time around.  If you've ever used light cream cheese, it tends to be a bit more crumbly when baked and that's basically what happened here.  Yes, the dip still had wonderful flavor [that nutmeg is phenomenal!] but I just wish it would have the creaminess that full fat cream cheese would have given it.  Yep dad, trying to make things 'healthier' wasn't the best in this case.  I'll give it to you ☺ But still, that didn't stop me from chowin' down.

So if you're having some guests over, or just hanging out on your own, I suggest you give this number a go.  It's a winner, winner, toasted almond parmesan dip dinner!  If you watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, that makes sense...  .

My Notes:

• I double the ingredients for the original recipe, so if you want a smaller batch, just halve the ingredient amounts.
• I thought this dip was best right out of the oven, nice and toasty warm.  If you don't serve it right away, I recommend heating it up a bit in the oven again or in the microwave.

Adapted from How Sweet It is

Ingredients:

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 oz. mascarpone cheese, softened

2 c. grated parmesan cheese

1-1/2 c. sliced toasted almonds

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Scant pinch of salt

French baguette, crackers, etc. (for serving)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F.  In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, parmesan cheese, 1 cup toasted almonds, pepper, nutmeg, and salt using a spoon.  Mix together until thoroughly combined.  Spread evenly in 2-quart baking dish.
2. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until top is browned.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining toasted almonds.  Serve immediately.