THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from The Café Sucre Farine

This recipe comes from The Café Sucre Farine. These aren't anywhere near the "best", in my opinion but they're decent. I give them 4 stars. Still, I wouldn't recommend them or make them again because of the strong butter flavor. I made half, used almost 1 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and got 33 1 T./1.5" diameter dough balls. I used a scant 1/2 t. fine/table salt and it was perfect. I made the mistake of following directions and mixed this up by hand, not by mixer, and it was very hard on my hand and arm, so use a mixer. The dough spreads out properly and mine baked in 8.5 minutes. 

I give these 3 stars.

BAKED (APPLE CINNAMON) OATMEAL from Taste of Home

This is very good and comes from Taste of Home. It's basically cake that's made with oats and no flour. I made half in a 1.5 qt. stoneware baking dish. I baked it 35 minutes but I think it could have taken a few minutes less as the edges browned more than I wanted. I added one peeled and finely chopped apple and added 1/4 c. finely ground toasted pecans and 1/2 t. vanilla extract. In place of butter I used Blue Bonnet spread, which is salted. Because of that the salt level is perfect.

I give this 5 stars.

CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP from Yummly

 

This comes from Yummly. It says it makes four servings but I got three using 21 oz. bowls, which is what I wanted. The amount of salt and pepper wasn't given but should have been for the salt. It used at least 1/4 t. fine salt. I don't think two cups of cooked noodles would have been enough for over 5 c. of liquid. I used almost 4 oz. of medium egg noodles and it was perfect. That's almost two cups UNCOOKED and they appeared to increase in volume by at least 50%. I used broth in place of 1 c. milk to cut calories. I don't like poultry seasoning so I used thyme and oregano and left out the bay leaf too. I also added about 1/2 c. frozen peas. I added 3/8 t. garlic powder too.

I give this three stars for several reasons. I like how my soup turned out and I cooked my pasta in the soup. The recipe tells you to cook them separately but why? Makes no sense at all.

INDIAN CHICKEN CURRY SOUP WITH COCONUT MILK

This recipe is from Paint the Kitchen Red. I can't review the recipe as written because I made changes. I left out the coconut milk, jalapeno (my curry powder had cayenne pepper in it), fresh garlic (I used garlic powder), ginger (my curry powder already had it in it), no cilantro, I pureed fire roasted tomatoes and used 3/4 c. in place of diced tomatoes, and I used frozen thawed and drained spinach in place of fresh. I used far less chicken, just two tenderloins baked in the oven, then shredded and added last, and added half a can of drained and rinsed great northern beans, added after the soup was finished, and 1/2 c. dry ditalini pasta. Seems like this soup would have been just liquid without those two additions. I got three servings and each serving is almost 300 calories.

I used homemade curry powder from Minimalist Baker. I left out cinnamon, dry mustard, cardamom, and pepper. I used a lot less cayenne too. I added a little paprika for color. Truthfully the soup didn't taste like much until I added a little smoked paprika to it, and garlic.

CHICKEN CURRY SOUP

 

This soup comes from Simply Delicious Food. I can't rate it as the recipe is written because I made changes. I also made half the recipe and left out the chicken. I omitted ginger, cinnamon, and celery because it's already in my McCormick curry powder. I omitted the bay leaf too since I've never been able to taste it when I've used it. I used slightly less curry powder than called for and used a lot less turmeric because that stuff's potent. I used onion instead of leeks. I used water in place of coconut milk or cream. Next time I'm going to add a little bit of ditalini pasta, about 3-4 tablespoons as this was a bit brothy. My small cubes of russet potato was overcooked in 20 minutes.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CAKE from Liv for Cake

This comes from Liv For Cake. It turned out good. It's yet another one that uses cocoa powder, this time Dutch process kind, vegetable oil and boiling water. I made half in a 9"x1.5" round pan. It was a little too much batter for the pan and took 26 minutes to bake. I did use one less tablespoon of cocoa. It's a sticky cake so make sure you line you cake pan/pans fully with foil that's been sprayed with nonstick spray. It's very moist. I used my own frosting recipe.

I give this 5 stars and would make it again.

BEST DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS from Also the Crumbs Please

 

This recipe is from Also the Crumbs Please. They're made with Dutch process cocoa, vegetable oil and buttermilk ( I used homemade). This is the second time I made half a batch. The first time they were overcooked at 14 minutes on 350 (I got 10) so this time I baked them on 325 degrees and it took 16 or 17 minutes for 9. Make sure you fill muffin cups no more than 2/3 of the way or they'll likely bake up and spread out onto your pan and stick, like these did at the lower temperature. I had to loosen them up with a toothpick before I could remove them from the pan.

I didn't bake them on a very high temperature for a few minutes like the recipe said to do. Doing that is to help them rise quicker and get a domed top, which I care nothing about. This second time they turned out perfectly. They're even moist the very next day after being in an airtight container, which is very very rare for a chocolate muffin, in my experience. I made a thick glaze for these.

I give these 5 stars. I've made them about 4 times now, including just 1/4 of the original recipe (which makes 5) and they're my favorite of all-time.

THE BEST OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES from Modern Honey

This comes from Modern Honey. I made half and they taste great....because I added double the salt. I used half the amount of vanilla and that's all that was needed. I used half the amount of raisins and added 1/2 c. chopped, toasted pecans. I got 29 1 T./1.5" diameter dough balls. My dough sat out 30 minutes before baking and they didn't spread as much as the ones on the website even though I baked them at a lower temperature, 350 F, which should have caused them to possibly spread a little more.

I have a bone to pick with the recipe creator. Most recipes use room temperature unsalted butter and she didn't say which type to use and if it should be at room temperature. Someone left her a comment asking if they could use unsalted butter instead of salted, as if the recipe originally stated to use salted. As it's written today, she doesn't specify. And her tip to plump up dried raisins, such as ones hard from being frozen or refrigerated, has you soaking them in hot water for too long. You only need to soak them in hot water for 3-5 minutes, then drain and blot dry.

I don't know how to grade these. Without the extra salt these would have been way too sweet and they're perfectly fine with half the vanilla. And the issue I have with salted vs. unsalted butter, I'd grade that part of the recipe a C/D. I'm not new to baking but for those who are, they'd have been really confused and likely would have just gone with another recipe. I've had issues with two of the three cookie recipes I've made from this site and I'm not comfortable making anything more for it as I don't trust it.

EASY CHICKEN CROQUETTES

These come from Food.com. I made half the recipe twice using one average size boneless, skinless chicken breast. I got six croquettes using a slightly heaping 1/4 c. ice cream scoop. I didn't add the suggested onion or celery because stuffing mix has all that in it already and usually too much of it. These are good, they taste just like whichever stuffing you use. I only use Stove Top low sodium chicken stuffing. These would probably be good with cream of potato soup in place of cream of chicken. I made chicken gravy for them using one tablespoon butter, one tablespoon flour, and 1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth added after the butter and flour mixture thickened, and a pinch of pepper.

I do think the bread in the stuffing needs to be broken up more so the patties hold together better, and make sure your chicken is chopped finely too. The second time I made these they didn't want to hold together because of the size of my chicken pieces.

I give these 5 stars. I'm not sure the egg is necessary in this.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES WITH CRISCO from This Is Not Diet Food

 

This recipe is from This Is Not Diet Food. I made half and used equal parts butter flavored shortening and regular. Not a fan of butter flavored shortening. I got 20 1T./1.5" dough balls. I used 1/2 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 c. chopped toasted pecans. The first batch was a little overbaked at 10 minutes so the rest got baked for 9 minutes, 45 seconds. 

I give these 4 stars. I'd made them again using plain shortening and less salt because they're too salty.

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.