cmartcookie Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (108214)

Rhubarb Rumble Pie or Bars

Reviewed: May 18, 2012

It sounded like a good idea, but too many things went wrong for me... like, I never noticed that it called for a "1 oz." pkg. of vanilla pudding mix. OK. I'm not sure if that is supposed to be 3.5 oz or 6 oz. pkg. The whole microwave process didn't work for me. I ended up having to cook the rhubarb on the stove. It might taste OK, but for something that is supposed to be simple, I'd rather have it work right the first time without dirtying so many dishes trying to get it to just work.

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Pistachio Cream Cheese Fingers

Reviewed: Apr. 10, 2012

I really didn't like these too well. I forgot, by the time I got around to making the recipe, that others had recommended using an additional box of pudding to enhance the flavor; I followed the recipe as written. But, in addition to the lack of flavor (except for the chocolate drizzle which, fortunately, overpowered the taste of the cookie), I didn't really care for the texture. I think the pudding makes them too dense because they're a little too moist.

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Choereg (Armenian Easter Bread)

Reviewed: Apr. 10, 2012

All you need is one more person telling you that more flour was needed! But, I halved the recipe and still added 2-1/2 cups of extra flour. However, I didn't have the "required" spices, but read somewhere on a spice website that I might want to try anise, nutmeg and cinnamon; so I did - and it was superb! Only 1/2 tsp. of each for half the recipe, and barely detectable when eating the bread... but I think it enhanced the sweetness of the bread. I also used all butter in the recipe. I shaped the dough, brushed with egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds prior to letting it rise - proofing it on the oven proofing setting for 45-60 minutes, then just turned the oven on to 350 and baked it for about 20 minutes. Everyone was quite impressed, and out of 18 people - some who took a few slices home with them for leftovers - there were only 6 slices left for our family. We devoured it at the next meal. This is a wonderful - quick and easy, actually - recipe that I'm sure I'll make again!

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Southwestern Bizcochitos

Reviewed: Feb. 9, 2012

Move over "Best Rolled Sugar Cookies" (from this website), because these are my new favorite! I didn't put the cinnamon sugar topping on because I want to ice them, but the anise and orange are sufficient to give these cookies great flavor without the cinnamon. If you roll the cookies to 1/8" thick, they puff up less for icing; but puffier cookies could easily be covered with fondant. I'll post photos when they're finished. Just wanted to give the recipe my review right away so that others won't be afraid to try the recipe! And, just for the record, I used margarine instead of Crisco and it worked fine. I did have to adjust for high altitude (7220 ft) by adding extra flour until the dough removed easily from the beater. With the anise and orange (I used dried grated peel and only 1-1/2 tsp), adding extra flour wasn't an issue as far as flavor. The dough rolls out really great - hardly even sticks to my plastic mat. Very easy to work with. Highly recommend that others try the recipe.

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Green Grape Salad

Reviewed: Feb. 5, 2012

4 lbs. vs. 4 cups of grapes? I think 4 lbs! I thought I had enough grapes at 4 cups; but there was so much cream cheese mixture at that point, I ended up adding two good-sized chopped apples, two sliced bananas, two cans of drained pineapple chunks and a handful of dried cherries before I decided that was enough. I'm pretty sure I have enough salad now to feed at least 16 people. Not sure what size my largest Pyrex mixing bowl is that I used, but the next size down says 2.5L. It is still very tasty, although not holding strictly to the "grape salad" title. I might add a little cinnamon to it at this point.

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3 users found this review helpful

Japanese-Style Grilled Mushrooms

Reviewed: Jan. 31, 2012

Good thing there were some reviews, though I didn't read all right away until the broiler started smoking and the shrooms started burning. I moved the oven rack down even farther - about 8" and switched from Broiler High to Broiler Low before my husband had to fan the smoke alarm to keep it from going off. I think the idea for this recipe is good, but (1) way too salty with so much soy per shroom, (2) the sesame oil did seem to smoke quite a bit, had I not caught it in time it would have been disastrous, (3) would have been nice to have the instructions a little more informational about broiler temp. The plating looked great, but it was just way too salty as written.

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Blueberry Cream Muffins

Reviewed: Jan. 10, 2012

Well, if I were to ever make these again, I might as well try baking them in a 9x13 pan. I should have thought about this before as the muffin cups were filling up higher and higher - the tops of the muffins overflowed so much that they all stuck together on the surface of my muffin pan. At high altitude, I usually get more muffins/cupcakes than expected. I should have remembered I might get more and have filled the muffin cups with less batter. Can you imagine, though, ending up with possibly 36 of these muffins?! The flavor is OK. I'd probably add some flavoring as others suggested, or lemon zest or something just to add some interest. Out of so many cupcakes, my blueberries were spread out pretty thin so there weren't many in each muffin.

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Zucchini Gingerbread

Reviewed: Sep. 15, 2011

I wish I'd copied the recipe after the temp change was made; but good I was keeping an eye on the pan (I made one bundt cake out of the batch) while it was baking. At 425 it came out pretty dark and crispy; but the inside is still light and fluffy. I, too, had a ton of zucchini to use up (yes - people DO actually leave ginormous zucchini in your car if you leave it unlocked). I then made a double batch (in the oven now) and forgot to double the eggs! We'll see what happens. If it works, I'll get back to you.

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2 users found this review helpful

Chocolate Cornstarch Pudding

Reviewed: Sep. 10, 2011

It's almost 11:30 p.m. I didn't have any pudding to fill my cupcakes, so gave this a try. It is wonderful! I can hardly wait for it to cool - yes, so I can finish the cupcakes and be done; but also because my husband is eager to try it. I already tasted it warm - it's super! And so easy! Thanks for the recipe!

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Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Reviewed: Sep. 10, 2011

These cupcakes came out great - I love the recipe! What a nice change from boxed cake mixes to make cupcakes! I'm having a hard time deciding whether to pipe in a jelly filling, or use chocolate (or both?). For high altitude, I added 1/4 cup extra flour (because box cake mixes always say to do that), and I also added an egg white for extra "fluffiness" - because I like to do that. I ended up with 30 cupcakes using about 1/4 cup batter per cupcake paper.

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Cranberry and Cilantro Quinoa Salad

Reviewed: Aug. 6, 2011

I think for 5 stars, no adjustments should have to be made, but with my adjustment it turned out to be a very nice salad. I agree that the salad was pretty dry (is it supposed to be? I've not had quinoa before like this - and just learned tonight that quinoa is a seed, not a grain); but with the addition of at least 1/4 cup Newman's Own Light Lime salad dressing, it was much improved. TIP - in case you are short of time: I read the instructions and knew the quinoa had to be chilled before adding the veggies. However, it took much longer to chill than I expected. So, I put it in my medium aluminum bowl, filled my large aluminum bowl with ice water, put the medium bowl into the large bowl and stirred the quinoa until it seemed cool enough to mix everything else into it.

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6 users found this review helpful

Tiramisu Layer Cake

Reviewed: Jul. 18, 2011

This cake was awesome! I really used it as a starting point, having never made tiramisu cake before. After looking at several recipes, this one seemed the best. While reading the cake package directions, it suggested using 4 egg whites instead of 3 whole eggs - to make it have lower cholesterol. However, I discovered that using just the whites, as well as adding a tablespoon of meringue powder (which was my experiment for the day), made the cake so light and fluffy, it was so MUCH better than the regular method! I made only two layers, though, having only two pans; but torted each layer so that I ended up with two layers of each kind. This meant needing more filling, and not having another container of mascarpone I used softened cream cheese. I also added a cup of sour cream to the filling, based on a different recipe; but that extended the filling so that I had enough for all three layers. At any rate - my cake appeared to be a hit at a BBQ I took it to tonight, and it certainly tasted divine. I definitely will be thinking of this cake every time I have leftover coffee - I made my own coffee syrup, which I used instead of liqueur so that I could just use what I had on hand. Personally, I think this cake would make a great wedding cake with the adjustments I made based on what I had on hand. Also, I made the Wilton buttercream icing recipe using my coffee syrup in place of the water, since I didn't want to buy anything. That worked wonders for the cake!

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5 users found this review helpful

Easy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Reviewed: Jun. 5, 2011

Very tasty, but VERY salty.

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5 users found this review helpful

Chocolate Frosting I

Reviewed: Apr. 29, 2011

I don't know why this recipe only has 4-1/2 stars. I have used it for years and it's the only chocolate frosting recipe I ever trust. It is extremely versatile - can be piped, or thinned and drizzled and everything else in between. I don't know how many times I've made it - seems like zillions and it always comes out perfect. Have made it with regular cocoa, as well as Hershey's special dark cocoa. It is a wonderful frosting and/or filling.

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4 users found this review helpful

Golden Rum Cake

Reviewed: Apr. 2, 2011

Very simple recipe to make - very tasty. Didn't realize we were out of rum, so tried it with Goldschlager cinnamon schnapps. Also used brown sugar in the glaze since I wasn't sticking completely to the recipe, and because I didn't have the full amount of schnapps left for the glaze. Still, it came out fine - though I don't think anyone will see the little gold flakes from the schnapps.

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1 user found this review helpful

Pressure Cooker Italian Chicken Soup

Reviewed: Mar. 12, 2011

Very nice suggestion for using up a pound of hot Italian turkey sausage. Tasty, even with a few substitutions because I didn't have some of the ingredients on hand (red lentils for green, cannelini for chick peas, Italian petite diced tomatoes for salsa). Since I like to make a LOT of soup if I'm going to go to the trouble, I added a lot more chicken and water. Figuring it might need a little spice, I added some extra Italian seasoning (Penzeys Tuscan Sunset), and I found a jar of chili paste in the cupboard and used only about 1/2 tsp for the 12 cups of water I used with Better Than Turkey bouillon (out of chicken). Still very tasty. Wish I'd had a little more spinach than I'd had on hand, but it looks beautiful just the same.

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6 users found this review helpful

Kelsandra's Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Reviewed: Mar. 12, 2011

I didn't have room to roll these out to full size, so I can't imagine just how big they turn out if you do. I halved the dough and rolled out twice - both times to almost 20" diameter in each direction. I ended up with 24 rolls (12 per pan that started out with space between the rolls, filled in while baking) that are sort of pyramid shaped. The centers rose higher than the edges, and they only took about 20 minutes to cook. I am pleased, however, that I was actually able to get the dough to rise at high elevation (7220). I decreased yeast to 2 tsp. in hopes that would work. I, too, required the addition of almost 2 more cups of flour than specified, but I attributed that to my use of pumpkin butter instead of canned pumpkin (we were out). The dough does seem to lack something - maybe salt like others suggested. I added more cinnamon to the filling, as I was really hoping for a stronger cinnamon flavor. I think by the time they're iced and set before a table of college age young men at a brunch, they'll still be a huge hit.

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Irresistible Irish Soda Bread

Reviewed: Mar. 12, 2011

Well, this should be interesting. My bread rose beautifully - even at high altitude (7220) and using 1/3 whole wheat flour; but seemed to bake pretty fast. I divided the dough into two smaller bread pans, as one reviewer suggested. Then I discovered - about half an hour later when I checked the bread - that I left out the melted butter! Still tastes okay, especially with marmalade - and anyone who wants to can spread butter on it themselves. I'm satisfied. Since I was making this to go along with an Irish breakfast/brunch, I think it'll still be great. I did add a splash of currants. Next time will also add some caraway. Ha! Lowfat bread!

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3 users found this review helpful

Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Reviewed: Mar. 5, 2011

Very tasty! We tripled the recipe for a large crowd, so made this on the stovetop - pre-cooking the chicken a little and adding extra water, since it wasn't cooked in the slow cooker. We also added some cayenne and Old Bay Seasoning to spice it up - just enough to give a little burn in the back of the throat. Very nice!

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Hot 'n' Spicy Buffalo Chicken Salad

Reviewed: Jan. 14, 2011

If you don't have ranch dressing mix, the recipe for Ranch Dressing and Dip Mix on this website can be used for starters. I used it to create my own blend for ranch dressing mix, including using dry buttermilk powder to add to it.

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4 users found this review helpful