These are adorable! I found it easier to form them by rolling 'worm' shapes in my hand with my fingers open so there are knobby places. Then put almond on smaller end near a small knob. Put wrinkles in with back of paring knife. For large knuckle, I used a plastic oval-shaped 1/8 t, pressing the open side down over the middle knobby area then put the wrinkles in there. The less precise you are with your formation of the fingers, the better they turn out. Check out photo 90 so you can see what I mean. The taste is good but would be better (sweeter) if you could roll them in confectioner's sugar. However, I think that would take away from the wanted effect. I might serve them with some to dust in on the side. I also did not have gel icing so made my own with corn syrup and red gel food coloring. Worked fine. Thanks, Sandra, for this brilliant idea!

Dara, thank you for this recipe. I did take reviewers' suggestions to decrease the amount of yeast to 1 1/2 t which made a beautiful loaf in my bread machine. I also used 1 c of whole white wheat flour in place of one of the cups of bread flour. Nice sandwich bread and beautiful toast.

Made this yesterday and it was SO SO good! Thank you so much for this idea, Adam. Instead of water I used broth from my roasted soy/sesame chicken breasts. I can't use onion or garlic so I need all the flavor help I can get. I did not simmer the beans more than 45 minutes since I was worried the black beans would be mushy. I just let the veggies simmer for about half an hour first, then added the beans. Absolutely delicious!

Loved this recipe! I made it, first of all, because it does not include garlic or onions. (I used homemade chicken broth.) Took reviewers tips to remove meatballs from broth after cooking, then to add egg/cheese mixture, then escarole & meatballs again. Not sure that was necessary as long as the meatballs do not cook too long before adding the rest of the ingredients. I did not cook the soup further from this point. The only changes I made were to add 1/2 t salt to meatball mixture and subbed romano cheese since that's what I had. Also fresh basil/parsley to the meatball mixture. I might add some pasta to it next time for a heartier soup. Thanks to you and your grandmother for this wonderful version of Wedding Soup.

These rolled dumplings are beautiful & taste so so good. They are soft, not slippery and noodle-like. I made a basic chicken soup w/celery, carrots, potatoes & when tender I added the cooked chicken and then the dumplings. I followed reviewers suggestions to use 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter. The dough came together easily and was soft but not sticky. Floured the counter liberally, rolled to 1/8 in., sprinkled w/flour & cut w/a pizza cutter. The flour on the dumplings thickened the soup beautifully. Only wish I'd had peas to add & next time I'll add some fresh parsley, too.

Thank you very much for this great recipe, Lori! I added a little white sugar & some pickle juice, subbed pepper jack cheese, adjusted amounts of some ingredients to taste and left out the ham. Really great!

I wasn't even looking for a specific recipe, just browsing the 'daily recipes', when I happened upon this one. I guess it was our lucky day because I decided on the spur of the moment to make this the star of our Sunday lunch. I used 1 c of bread flour & the rest white whole wheat, divided the dough into 8 pcs, otherwise as stated in recipe. When on the grill, after brushing w/olive oil, I sprinkled on some kosher salt & a mixture of fresh herbs (tarragon, basil, thyme). After both sides were cooked, I sprinkled on some parmesan cheese. We piled on cooked chicken breast, bacon, tomato, onions, lettuce, hot sauce & a bit of mayo. With only a little preparation, I proved once again that the food I make at home is much much better and also cheaper than going out. Thanks to you, Sue!

OK, what's everyone's problems with cooking dried beans??? I make some kind of bean soup every week though I usually use navy or pinto beans or both together. I rinse & check the beans for foreign matter, takes less than a minute. Then I cover the beans with water so that it's 2 inches over the beans. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer & cover. Takes about 2 1/2 hours to cook pintos, maybe half an hour less for navy beans. I never ever bothered with the soaking or boiling for 2 minutes and waiting an hour or any of that unnecessary stuff. (However, if you have gas problems from eating beans, it might help if you do that, as described by BugsNRoo.) And if you can't be bothered with or plain old just don't have time to cook dried beans, then just open some canned ones, rinse and drain them and stop whining. Wanda, you have been treated poorly! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!

Incredibly good, tender and sweet! Deserves 10 stars! Thank you so much for this recipe. It was also very easy to make. I was worried when I saw how soft the dough was, but chilling for an hour as instructed did the trick. I made icing for these cookies, but after tasting how sweet they are, decided icing was overkill. My husband put icing on his own cookies only and the rest of us were happy with them plain. Absolutely beautiful cookies with a lovely texture. (I only had plain shortening & added all filling to inside of cookies,otherwise no changes to recipe.)

My brownies turned out perfect! They were chewy and the marshmallows had melted into the bars and left little airy pockets all through. I baked them until they were a pretty dark tan on top and the middle was firm, NOT LOOSE! I think that's why so many reviews complained of gooey messes. Another thing is that I've never liked butterscotch chips too much because, to me, they're too sweet, but mixed in the batter like this just makes the sweetness factor perfect. I can't eat chocolate so I substituted peanutbutter chips. These are my very favorite cookie/brownie of all time now. Thank you so much for this perfect recipe.

This is delicious! I altered the recipe according to reviews, by mistake, and to my own taste but I never would have made them in the first place if the recipe hadn't been here to start with. So THANK YOU! I used 2 c flour. Because I read the recipe wrong, I added an extra 1/2 c sugar to the base. (I wouldn't do this on purpose though because I doubt it would matter.) I doubled the carmel layer plus I sprinkled on some toffee chips. I sprinkled on the 1 c of pecans, then filled in the spaces with peanuts. Then I subbed peanutbutter chips instead of using chocolate. I am so in love with these!

I make this all the time now because it always comes out moist and delicious. It's like brining the bird without all the trouble! I do put a cup of water or broth in the pan to prevent burning of the juices. I 'paint' on the soy and sesame oil, add the broth and roast at 400 the entire time. Takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes to get the internal temp to 170. I make at least 2 chickens at a time. My favorite thing at the moment is to make this recipe just using chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken. I do everything the same, except just half a cup or so water, enough to cover the bottom of the pan by about a quarter inch. Then bake at 400. It takes about 40 minutes for the biggest breasts to cook to 170, but less time for smaller ones that are sometimes in the same package. I just start checking around 35 minutes. Extremely yummy moist chicken. Thanks so much for the jumping off point!

I was really happy to find these cookies in a non-chocolate variation. I made them with 5 cups of oats but next time I will stick to the recommended 4 1/2 c because I thought the extra made it crumblier. I agree that these are just about too sweet but I believe I will leave them that way because now I find just 1 or 2 satisfying and I'm afraid if I cut down the sugar I wouldn't be able to stop eating them! Thanks for this recipe and the trip down memory lane!

I made only one change to this recipe and that was to only add 1 T baking powder (3 t). My cornbread came out light, fluffy, sweet and moist. I baked in a 9 in clay Pampered Chef baker (pretty close to using a cast iron skillet) which I greased liberally with shortening and placed in the oven while it was preheating. I convection baked it at 400 degrees and it was beautifully golden. (I'm not sure how long it baked.) I wish I had taken a picture of it; it was that beautiful! I saw one commenter said it wasn't cornbread, it was a cornmeal cake and I kind of agree with that, but I don't think that makes it bad at all--just different. I have always preferred unsweetened cornbread but I really did enjoy this variation and I thank you for the recipe. You can bet we'll be making this one time and again.

We made these pancakes for our Christmas breakfast and they were a big hit! I did make a couple of changes. I used 1/4 c (4 T) brown sugar and added an extra egg. I also omitted the ginger (heartburn sufferer) and added 1 more t cinnamon & 1 t vanilla. These pancakes turned out fluffy and light and tender. Another plus was that while I normally pretty much drown my pancakes in syrup, I found I enjoyed these best with just a drizzle. Thanks for a great recipe!

Thank you thank you thank you! This is the basic recipe I use for cake icing, too. I have successfully made it for cookies before but it's always hit or miss since I never knew how much of anything I used. I just iced the sugar cookies I made and they are divine. Usually I just sprinkle on sugar but this is way better. It's an old recipe that makes cakey thick not-too-sweet cookies that are just perfect for frosting. I found that just stirring everything in the pan made the frosting smooth and perfect so I didn't bother with the mixer. I also kept a small amount of skim milk (used instead of cream) next to me and added a few drops whenever the icing dried out. No need for reheating or anything else. These were ready to layer between sheets of waxed paper in less than an hour. Thanks again for figuring out the proportions for me!

Great recipe! I made this exactly as stated in the recipe, using Chex Multigrain cereal, almonds and pecans. I left the nuts whole, and toasted them in the oven first. I saw several 'bad' reviews, and I believe most of them complained about stickiness of the finished product. These same reviewers stated that they 'had' to increase the cook time for the coating in the microwave to get it to the hard crack stage. That's their mistake right there! Like the recipe says, you just put it in the microwave until the butter melts! Stir it and pour it over your cereal mixture. I couldn't find my roaster so I used 2-9x13 cake pans, then dumped it on sheets of quick release foil and spread it out. It took almost no time to cool and didn't have to be stirred. Next time I'm going to try adding some cinnamon and vanilla as others suggested. Great recipe, Trish!

I was wrong to be so hesitant about making these. I never liked the Girl Scout version so I balked. But these are really really special. After reading some of the reviews I made only 2 changes: used half butter and half shortening & subbed skim milk for the cream. I doubled the recipe since it seemed to make so few but I should not have. I used a small scoop which is 2 teaspoons size and made 56 two-inch diameter sandwich cookies. I did flatten with a fork. I also used a good tablespoon of filling for each sandwich. Be sure to use a mixer for the filling. I added enough skim milk to the other ingredients to get the fluffy texture I was after. In my convection oven I found that 7 minutes worked best. These are so gooooooooooood!

Mmmmm! I read a lot of reviews and ended up making this with high protein Special K cereal and 2/3 c each of peanutbutter & brown sugar. Then I added 1/3 c each of honey and light corn syrup. I mixed it in a plastic bowl, then turned it out onto my wooden cutting board and rolled it out with a wooden rolling pin. The mixture did not stick to the wood at all! I wish I had a big wooden salad bowl to mix it up in because it did stick a little to the plastic. Then, I cut off one edge (just to make it straight. I swear!) and put in in the fridge to cool faster. I just ate it and it is really really delicious. But, really, I could totally have waited until it cooled on the counter because I'm an adult. I think. The mixture does stick after it cools so it's best to get it off the cutting board as soon as it's firm enough to move. Thank you so much for this recipe!

Yay, Sandy! Thanks so much! I only used 1 T oil and left out the onion and & used mayo instead of salad dressing and this slaw was perfection . I also happened to use rice vinegar, but that's just because I like it so much. I let it sit in the fridge for about 3 hours and it was great, no gritty sugar or watery sauce. I served this with Mushroom Blue Cheese Turkey Burgers and Tea Biscuits (both from this site) and sliced tomatoes. Perfect meal!