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.

BLACK BEAN AND TOMATO SOUP from Myself

I came up with this recipe on my own using the exact same flavors, almost, as another recipe. I just used less beans and added pasta and used tomatoes in place of tomato paste. To save over 200 calories, I simmered the onion in water instead of oil/butter.

YEILD: 3 servings

POT: 3 quart

CALORIES PER SERVING: About 200-220 if not using oil

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 c. low sodium chicken broth or water-broth combination
• 1/2-3/4 c. pureed diced fire roasted tomatoes
• 1/2 c. dry ditalini pasta (it will triple or quadruple once fully cooked)
• 1 c. black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 c. corn, canned or frozen
• 1/2 c. onion, minced, cooked in 2 T. oil or simmered in about 3/4 c. water (like I did to cut calories)
• 3/4 t. chili powder
• 1/4 t. garlic powder
• 1/2 t. or so of pureed chipotle in adobo (be very careful of adding too much)
• 1/2 t. fine salt

DIRECTIONS:

• Cook onion in the oil of your choice until mostly done or simmer them in a little water or chicken broth.
• Stir in all remaining ingredients. Cook 15 minutes, uncovered, or until pasta is cooked to your liking.
• Pasta will continue to cook and swell in the hot broth once the heat is turned off. If the broth gets too thick to suit you, add more water or broth, just 1/4 c. at a time.

 

JAM-FILLED COOKIES from Better Homes and Gardens

This recipe came out of my mother's old Better Homes and Gardens Homemade Cookies Cook Book and the recipe is posted below. It's a soft dough that's made with all shortening, both types of sugar, and milk. I made just half. I don't care for the dough. It tastes like oatmeal raisin cookie dough minus the raisins and spices and it doesn't suit a filled cookie, IMO. I cut my rounds slightly bigger, about 1.75", topped with less than the 1 teaspoon of jam (I used Smucker's red tart cherry spread) they said to use (it won't hold that much), and I flattened the top piece of dough in my hand with my other hand to make it larger than the piece below it, laid it on top of the jam and pinched the edges together to seal it and the seal held well, no leakage. They baked in 8 minutes. The edges were crunchy but because of the type of dough this is, it didn't harden much like I was hoping. I was hoping for a crunchy cookie, like a sandwich/linzer cookie.

I give these 3 stars. It was easy though time consuming and I wouldn't make again because of the type of dough this produced. 

DARK CHOCOLATE (AND PEANUT BUTTER) SANDWICH COOKIES from Tablespoon

I made half the recipe and got 20 slices/10 huge sandwich cookies. I unintentionally cut my dough slices too thick and baked them too long but they still turned out great. I made my own peanut butter filling (frosting) for them, not the marshmallow one in the recipe. These are made with Dutch process cocoa powder, hence the 'dark chocolate' in the recipe name. These have a hint of that particular sugar cookie flavor, and butter flavor. Good recipe and I'll make these again. I don't like that the 2" slices turned into 3-3 1/4" slices when cooked so next time I'll make my dough log 1.5", not 2".

I give these 5 stars.

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.