I didn't change this recipe too much except for the following: (1) Used half all-purpose and half whole-wheat flour; (2) Used only 1-1/2 cups sugar; (3) Used 3-1/2 cups grated carrots; (4) Used walnuts in place of pecans in the cake but not in the frosting; (5) Added allspice, ground nutmeg and clove as suggested by other reviewers; (6) Frosted with coconut extract-flavored buttercream frosting instead. The cake still turned out to be slightly sweet for me; I guess I'll reduce sugar to 1-1/3 cups next time. Other than that, it was a very moist spiced carrot cake! (If you add more spices as suggested by others.) Definitely a keeper!

Today I made pound cake for the second time using this recipe, and I succeeded! Since I worried this time might turn out to be a failure again, I halved the recipe and made it into two smaller loaves. They were done in 45 min. I guess the mistake I did in my first attempt was overbeating the batter; therefore, air was beaten out. The end product was a "cake" that had a solid center. But, the cakes turned out be dense and moist this time--just the way pound cake is supposed to be. Worrying about overbeating the batter again, I mixed in the dry ingredients and soured milk by hand instead. Yet, I noticed there're some tiny holes in the cakes--too much air this time (LOL)? I guess in the future, I'll jiggle the pans of batter before putting them into the oven. Also, I decreased sugar to 1-1/4 cups for half the recipe. (I used 2-1/3 cups for the entire recipe.) And it had the right sweetness. I also doubled the vanilla and added 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon for half the recipe. Cinnamon was really mild, but it did help perk up the flavor. This recipe deserves five stars; I failed the first time due to my own fault. Once I understand the nature of making pound and butter cakes, chances of failure decrease greatly. I'll definitely use this recipe again for pound cake!

After I'd read others' reviews, I used 2 Tbsp cocoa and only 1/2 cup sugar in my cookies; choc chips were omitted. Just the right sweetness and chocolatey-ness for me. On top of that, I didn't follow the instructions verbatim. I adapted instructions from other meringue cookie recipes to suit this recipe instead. First, beat in cream of tartar and vanilla when the egg whites become foamy; continue whipping till soft peaks form. When soft peaks form, gradually beat in sugar (a little at a time) to egg whites till they form stiff peaks and look glossy. I folded in cocoa lastly--don't overfold the mixture. Since this was my first attempt at making meringue, I was slightly worried. I wondered whether combining vanilla and cream of tartar with egg whites first will actually prevent the the egg whites from "growing" in volume. Separate the egg whites from the yolks right after the eggs are out of refrigerator. Then, wait to start baking when the egg whites get to room temperature. Also, make sure you use only grease-free metal or glass mixing bowl and beeaters for whipping egg whites. Finally, these cookies took longer to get done (for me), about 35~40 minutes; they're done when the tops of the cookies are kind of hard. I got about 36~40 of them with a teaspoonfuls for each. Overall, this is a wonderful choc meringue drop recipe--definitely a keeper! The best part is they're lower in calories than other cookies!