DRIED CHERRY MUFFINS from The Kitchenarium

This recipe's from The Kitchenarium. I made half using almost 1/4 c. batter for each muffin and got 10. The recipe called for no salt! so I added 3/8 t. and it was perfect, as was the amount of almond extract called for. I added 1/4 c. of ground toasted almonds and added 1/2 t. vanilla extract, and those two ingredients weren't in the recipe. Mine baked in exactly 14 minutes on 350. I don't care about getting domed muffin tops so I didn't start them out on a ridiculously high temperature like the recipe stated to do. I didn't coat my dried cherries, which were chopped, in flour before adding to the batter and they didn't sink, nor did I soak them in hot water to reconstitute them, as that's never necessary, ever. They'll plump up in the batter. I made a thick glaze for these.

Like most muffins, these are best eaten still warm from the oven. They're drier after awhile and the next day, so I had to heat them in the microwave. They taste great but I give them 4 stars.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE PUDDING CAKE from The Chocolatess

This recipe is from The Baking Chocolatess. It turned out good. I used two less tablespoons of cocoa powder in the pudding part because I know for a fact 4 tablespoons would have been way too much and would have been bitter. I also used Dutch process cocoa. I also used both light and brown sugar in the pudding along with the white that it called for. I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla in the cake, not 1.5 teaspoons. I always pour the hot water for the pudding into a measuring cup containing the sugar and cocoa powder and stir until it's disolved, then I pour that over the top of the cake. It makes no sense at all to sprinkle the mixture over the cake then pour hot water on top of that. I've been making pudding cakes since 2006 and I do this every time. I used (I always use this size) a 1.5 qt. baking dish. This baked in the time stated. 

I give the written recipe 4 stars and not 5 because of the excessive amount of cocoa powder in the pudding. With my changes, using two less tablespoons, I give this 5 stars. 

EASY LENTIL SOUP

This comes from Diethood. I used chicken broth and water in place of beef broth, omitted celery, bay leaf (I can never taste it), thyme, and greens. I used less oregano and potato too, one large russet (1.5 c.). I used a little less smoked paprika and left out chilis. I used one 15 oz. can of lentils (1 3/4 c.)

I give this 4 stars because the taste is nothing special.

CHICKEN ORZO SOUP WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

This comes from Eatwell101. It's basic and simple to make, like most soups. You'll need to chop up jarred sun-dried tomatoes and onion, that's all. I've never been fond of Italian seasoning so I made my own with a recipe I found online, but I'm not too fond of that one even though I made adjustments to it. I used a lot less sun-dried tomatoes than called for, just 3 T., and that's enough to taste. I used water in place of cream. Orzo cooks fully in just 10 minutes. This could have used a little more, up to 1/4 c. dry, as this is brothy, but that's fine with me. I also used just 1/8 t. pepper flakes and that was more than enough. Anymore and I wouldn't have been able to eat it because it would have been too hot. 

I give this 4 stars.

 

JAM THUMBPRINT COOKIES from Nana's Best Recipes

This recipe's from Nana's Best Recipes. I made half, which used 4 T. butter and 2 T. shortening. I added 3 T. ground toasted almonds (325 degrees F for 4 minutes) to the batter and used half the amount of vanilla. I used a 1 T./1.5" diameter cookie scoop and got 15 cookies. They baked up to be 2.5" round. I used Smucker's seedless raspberry jam. These baked in my Breville oven in 10 minutes. These are very good. The shortening gives them a slightly crumbly texture on the outside and the sugar they were rolled in gave them a crunch too.

The dough in the photo on the website I got this recipe from looks crumbly but mine wasn't. I weighed out the flour using 120 g per cup and 25 g for half an egg.

I give these 5 stars and will make them again. I've been baking cookies from scratch for over 20 years and this is the first of its kind I've made. For some reason a thumbprint cookie never appealed to me. This is basically a much quicker version of a jam sandwich/linzer cookie and was quick to make and no trouble at all. I don't know how the baked and cooled cookies do in an airtight container because I only bake a few at a time and eat them within a short time of baking them.