DOUBLE CHOCOLATE DROPS from Crisco

This recipe is from Crisco Canada. The cookies use all shortening. I used regular, not butter flavored. I made half the recipe and I used slightly less vanilla than called for. I used 1/2 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. I got 28 1 T./1.5" dough balls. The dough is very soft and you'll need to refrigerate your dough at least 90 minutes before you can scoop it out with a cookie scoop. I waited 60 minutes and the dough stuck a little to the scoop. My cold dough balls baked in 9 minutes. They spread out nicely and I've got no complaints other than they need a pinch more salt. The recipe said for rounded tablespoons of dough, bake 10-11 but mine weren't rounded and took only 9. At 9 minutes, even after cooling, they're crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. 30 seconds more they'd have been crunchy (overcooked) throughout. 

I give these 5 stars.

MMM-MMM BETTER BROWNIES from All Recipes

These come from All Recipes. I made these several times over ten years ago but couldn't remember what they tasted like. They're made with oil. They definitely aren't worth making again. They don't have much flavor at all. They do have a nice, soft consistency but have the hard crusty top that I hate. 

I give these 2 stars. 

SPRITZ COOKIES from Pillsbury

This recipe gets 1 star from me. It comes from Pillsbury. Spritz cookies use a cookie press. The dough's not supposed to spread out or puff up much because they'll lose their shape. This dough did all the things it's not supposed to do. The flavor is good. They baked in 6.5 minutes. I added lemon extract in place of almond. I added 1/4 t. vanilla extract too and made just half the recipe. I divided the dough in half and baked half to see how they'd do. I'm not happy that they spread so I made slice 'n bake cookies with the other half of the dough. I baked them 7.5 minutes but that was a little too long. There's no point in baking cute small shapes if they'll bake up differently. A quarter of the full recipe will yield 8 slice 'n bake cookies but I don't know how thickly I cut the slices.

ONE POT SPANISH CHICKEN AND RICE from Creme de la Crumb

This is a good recipe and comes from Creme de la Crumb. I made half the rice, omitting lemon, and I added 1/8 t. red pepper flakes, and that was almost too much. There's too much smoked paprika and salt in this and I used less than called for. Other than that this is very good. I baked a piece of boneless chicken breast without adding Spanish seasoning to it, shredded it and added it to the cooked rice.

I give this 4.5 stars.

RICE PUDDING from Chow Hound

This stovetop, eggless rice pudding recipe comes from Chow Hound. I made half. The liquid-to-rice ratio was perfect but the rice wasn't nearly cooked in the time given, and it's cooked uncovered, which is a no-no with rice. I added chopped canned peaches near the end of the cooking time.

Because the cooking time was totally messed up, I give this 3 stars or so. You need to cover this and let it simmer for at least twenty minutes, then check the rice for doneness and go from there.