Close to perfect, and with adjustments I think this will be my go to pie crust. Ran out of shortening and used 1:4 ratio of shortening to unsalted butter. Easy to work with, but would reduce water for flakier crust. Used food processor and might have overmixed before adding water; still had pea-sized lumps of fat, but I always find with food processor pie-crust, it's better to leave larger chunks of fat before adding the water, as the blades reduce the fat lumps during mixing. I think a 1:1 ratio of shortening to butter would result in best balance of flake and flavor. Really delicious and pretty flaky regardless.

Reviewed On: Jul. 8, 2011

This recipe was NOT for me. Tasted like healthfood and was very bland-a non-spicey spice cake. Thought it would pack more nut flavor.

Reviewed On: Mar. 15, 2010

Made these as cupcakes despite the problems described by the cupcake reviewer. Used stand mixer for all ingredients except the cocoa, brown sugar, choc chips and hot water (used part water part 1/2 & 1/2). They rose nicely and even crowned a little with a nice 'pudding' on the bottom. The cake had an excellent texture--I was surprised by the moistness and nice crumb though they contained no eggs. I docked one star for flavor, but it's a personal preference: the taste was a bit cocoa powder-floury, and I prefer my cake a bit more chocolatey.

Reviewed On: Jun. 27, 2009