SPEEDY BROWNIES from Just a Pinch

This awful recipe is from Just a Pinch. These are made with melted shortening and cocoa powder. They don't taste good at all and the top has that dreaded hard layer. I ate two and threw the other four away. I do like the texture of these. I think they took 22 minutes to bake in an 8" square pan.

I give these 1 star.

CHOCOLATE VELVET CAKE from Rock Recipes

This recipe is from Rock Recipes. It uses cocoa powder, vegetable oil and shortening, no butter. They turned out great. I made half and got 12. They baked in 18 minutes. I made my own frosting for it and made a second frosting for it using Dutch process cocoa powder, which I spooned over the frosted cupcakes. The recipe just says "cocoa powder" yet in the comment section the author told someone who asked about it to use Dutch process, so that's what I used, Hershey's Special Dark Dutch process. I doubled the vanilla extract to 1 teaspoon. I used homemade cake flour and homemade buttermilk.

I give these 4.5 stars. These are good but not the best I've had. They're very moist and the next day were just as moist as the day I'd made them.

 

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.

SUGAR COOKIES from Grace & Good Eats

This all shortening cookie recipe is from Grace & Good Eats. I made half the recipe. I left out the cinnamon and used slightly over than 1/4 t. pure lemon extract but that was too much. I got 23 1 T. dough balls. I rolled each one in sugar and flattened them slightly. The recipe didn't say to do that but I was scared not to, so I did. The cold dough wasn't real firm so I figure they'd have spread out fine without having flattened them first. I baked them for 7 minutes, 45 seconds. They're crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. The ones pictured were baked for 8 minutes.

I give these 4 stars for appearance and texture but they don't have a lot of flavor.

ULTIMATE DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from The Flavor Blender

This recipe is from The Flavor Blender. I like that these use melted butter and Dutch-processed cocoa. I made 1/4 of the recipe, added 1/3 c. peanut butter chips (they could have used more) instead of regular chocolate chips, and an extra 1/8 t. salt, and got 13 1 T./1.5" dough balls. My cool dough (66 degrees F) baked in 9 minutes. The cookies puffed while baking then flattened when cooling. These taste good but I can taste the butter a little more than I like.

I give these 4 stars but wouldn't make them again because I've made several others that taste better.

BEST BANANA MUFFINS EVER from The Busy Baker

 

This comes from The Busy Baker. I made half, got six, and they baked in 16 minutes, nowhere near the suggested 22-25. I added about two tablespoons of ground toasted pecans to the batter. These turned out great but need more salt. 

I give these 5 stars. They're extremely moist!

WHITE VELVET CAKE from Rock Recipes

These turned out good and come from Rock Recipes. I made half, got 12, and added about 3 T. chopped (in food processor) maraschino cherries and 1/4 t. pure almond extract. They're made with oil and shortening. Moist and a good recipe but I've had better white cake. I made my own frosting for it. These bake at a lower temperature of 325 F, they baked up flat on top but I can't remember how long they took. EDIT- They take about 17 minutes. I used homemade cake flour and homemade buttermilk.

I give these 4.5 stars. 

FAVORITE OATMEAL PANCAKES from Quaker Oats

This recipe's from Quaker Oats and I'm not impressed with it. We could use quick cooking oats or rolled oats so I used quick cooking. For the optional stir-ins I used apple, pecans and a dash of cinnamon. These were dry and the batter was a little too thick to suit me. I wouldn't make these again and don't recommend them.

I give these three stars.