JENSPIN Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (1573739)

Baked Pancake Squares

Reviewed: Feb. 11, 2012

These were merely okay for me, and the base recipe here requires a lot of doctoring. I used a medium egg instead of egg substitute, half the baking powder, added a splash of vanilla, and before I poured the batter into the pan, I melted 4 T butter, mixed it with 1/2 c brown sugar and some macadamia nuts in the bottom of the pan. After baking, there was a lot of excess butter around the edges I poured off before inverting it on a plate. The brown sugar was still a little grainy. A nice change from saturday-morning pancakes or waffles, but probably won't be a mainstay.

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Veggie Lo Mein

Reviewed: Nov. 2, 2011

Like others have said, a good basic recipe. I wound up doubling the soy and oyster sauces, plus I substituted cornstarch for flour (and used more of it) so it wouldn't be so thin. I recommend undercooking your noodles slightly so that they can finish in the sauce without being overdone.

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Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

Reviewed: Jul. 19, 2011

These were good, but the reviews set me up with higher expectations! The pumpkin flavor definitely gets lost with everything else these cookies have going on; I'll see what I think after they've aged a day. I added more spices - extra cinnamon, some ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg - upon reading the suggestions. The shortening keeps these cookies from spreading much, which makes for nice puffy cookies. The frosting was more like a maple fudge. I wound up adding nearly all 2 c. of confectioner's sugar, but if I were to do it again, I might stop between 1.5 and 1.75. It was hard to get the fudgy frosting to really stick to the cookies. I was glad for the craggy tops to give it any traction. I might try these again, but I don't know if they'll make it into the holiday cookie canon.

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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies III

Reviewed: Jul. 12, 2011

Used half-butter, half-shortening instead of all butter. Doubled the nuts and the chocolate chips. Also made much larger cookies than recipe calls for - I used my 2-tablespoon scoop instead of teaspoons! Baked about 14 minutes at 350 degrees and got gorgeously tanned and delicious cookies that still have a bit of chew in the middle with crunchy edges.

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Crunchy Caramel Corn

Reviewed: Jul. 12, 2011

Wow, this is remarkably delicious. I didn't measure my popcorn - just used 1/3 c. kernels on the stovetop, some yellow popcorn oil, and a couple shakes of popcorn salt to heighten the salty-sweet effect. I skipped the peanuts (for now). Use a big spoon to stir the corn, because that sugar mixture is napalm-hot. I can't wait to try some variations: maple-pecan, almonds with almond extract. This hasn't lasted very long in my kitchen today, and the microwave prep couldn't be easier! I have a 1100+ watt microwave, and I cooked the syrup for 2 min total and the corn for 2 min. The crunch is perfect and all the popcorn is coated.

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Curried Zucchini Soup

Reviewed: Aug. 16, 2010

Very easy and very tasty. A great way to use abundant garden zucchini when you've exhausted all the zucchini-bread recipes you can handle. I was looking for a recipe I could modify to re-create a saffron-courgette soup I had in the UK last summer. But the curry sounded good, too, so I made half with curry powder and half with saffron. I love them both! No need for cream, either - the hand blender gives it a great texture.

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Dark Rye Bread

Reviewed: Jul. 20, 2010

Dense loaf with good flavor - I should have warmed my water before putting it in the bread machine pan. Will try that next time to see if I get a larger, lighter loaf. Also added more caraway seeds - about 4 times as many!

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Banana Cake VI

Reviewed: Sep. 20, 2009

Made half a recipe in an 8x8 Pyrex pan but had to bake it well over an hour before it was done. Heavy, but good banana flavor. Used a plain buttercream frosting recipe instead of cream-cheese.

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Honey Limeade

Reviewed: Aug. 16, 2009

Excellent with or without honey. I think it's the perfect combination of tart and sweet. Extremely good over cracked ice.

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Jumbo Fluffy Walnut Apple Muffins

Reviewed: Jun. 12, 2009

Flattened out on top - likely a result of overfilling the pan, or else too much baking powder. Will probably be better the next day as the flavors blend.

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Spice Cookies with Crystallized Ginger

Reviewed: Mar. 21, 2009

I was looking for a recipe to use up some surplus crystallized ginger, and I'm quite pleased with this exceptionally tasty cookie! They have a light texture because of the egg white. I used slightly heaping teaspoons of the ginger and cloves and a tiny bit less cinnamon because I prefer ginger to cinnamon. I rolled them in sanding sugar (slightly larger crystals than ordinary granulated) and sprinkled a little extra on top after pressing them with a glass. I haven't yet drizzled them with the icing, and I might not bother - the sugar provides a nice sweetness (which echoes the slight crunch of the crystallized ginger) without dulling the spicy flavor.

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Grecian Pork Tenderloin

Reviewed: Dec. 24, 2008

I used lemon juice in place of lime juice, and this recipe got rave reviews.

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Easy Pavlova

Reviewed: Dec. 24, 2008

Perfect end to a Southern Hemisphere Christmas dinner. I top mine with kiwi and pomegranate arils. Beautifully festive and light.

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Cranberry Upside-Down Coffee Cake

Reviewed: Aug. 30, 2008

A good cake with a nice tart-cranberry topping. I followed the advice of others and baked at 325 degrees for 75 minutes and it turned out dark golden on top (bottom) and was fully done inside.

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Grandma Johnson's Scones

Reviewed: Jul. 17, 2008

I made these last week for the first time - the dough was relatively wet and I had to incorporate a lot of flour in while kneading. They spread quite a bit in the oven and didn't have the dense scone texture I was looking for. I just made them again 20 minutes ago, but this time I changed the way I measured the flour. Normally I spoon flour into the measuring cup and sweep it off, but this time I dug down into the densely-packed flour of a new bag. Made all the difference in the world. The dough came together perfectly, was easy to pat out and cut and baked out more upright.

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French Breakfast Puffs

Reviewed: Jan. 26, 2008

I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was satisfied with these. They're very similar to a cake donut, as other reviewers have mentioned. I used a scoop (the kind with a spring-loaded sweeping blade) to portion the sticky batter, and I made exactly nine muffins. I think the butter/sugar at the end is critical, and it works out to about 2 t. butter per puff. Mine ended up sitting for almost an hour before we ate them, and one I had later in the afternoon was just as good, so there isn't much pressure to serve immediately as the recipe would indicate. I'll be making these again.

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Surprise Banana Cake

Reviewed: Aug. 26, 2007

I agree with other reviewers - it's similar to banana bread; topped with a maple-flavored buttercream frosting, it was more cake-like. Let the flavors develop overnight and use exceptionally over-ripe fruit, just as you would for banana bread.

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Japanese-Style Sesame Green Beans

Reviewed: Aug. 26, 2007

These were very tasty green beans - a very versatile side-dish. I made them for a dinner party, and they were still good when served lukewarm. I used a combination of white and black sesame seeds, which gave it an interesting look.

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Mom's Best Peanut Brittle

Reviewed: Jul. 12, 2007

I made this with a high school culinary science club, and it is a very easy and nearly foolproof entry into candymaking. I would like to try it with different nuts - macadamias, especially.

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Macadamia-Crusted Sea Bass with Mango Cream Sauce

Reviewed: Aug. 11, 2006

This fish is so good! I used tilapia filets instead of sea bass, and skipped the pan-searing step - I put the nut-crusted raw fish right in the oven. I turned on the broiler for a couple of minutes at the end to further brown the crust. The fish was very good, and the sauce complements it well.

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