Suzanne Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (18965644)

Danish Pastry

Reviewed: May 5, 2008

Don't be intimidated by this recipe if you have some experience with baking. It truly makes excellent danish. Here are my modifications: Use your Kitchenaid stand mixer to mix all the ingredients for the butter-less basic dough, then attach the dough hook and knead, adding flour as necessary (about 6-7 minutes of kneading). I did not use all the flour (I was short by about 1 cup as the dough was getting saturated and I did not want it to dry out or become tough). Secondly, remove dough hook, remove dough from bowl, spray inside of bowl with non-stick cooking spray, place ball of dough back in sprayed bowl, and spray top of dough with non-stick cooking spray. Third, cover entire stand mixer with a large plastic bag and allow to rise for about 45-60 minutes (or until dough basically is filling the whole bowl). Those three steps right there take out all the work of kneading by hand. I followed everything else to the letter except: I made an apple filling by peeling 4 large granny smith apples and chopping into very small pieces, adding 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. I then placed the apple mixture on the stove on medium-high heat, added about 1/3 cup of flour, and allowed apple mixture to cook, stirring frequently, until the apples were soft but still held their shape (about 15-20 minutes of simmering). I then took the apples off the stove and allowed them to sit until I was ready for them. When I was ready to form the pastries, I took one of th

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Hash Brown Casserole II

Reviewed: Mar. 28, 2008

I made this for Easter with the following modifications, and it came out perfectly: First, use two cans of condensed soup (I used one can cream of chicken and one can cream of mushroom). Secondly, defrost the hash browns totally before cooking. Third, sautee the chopped onion in 4 tbl. butter for about 3-4 minutes before adding onion mixture to the hash browns. Fourth, use shredded colby cheese, not cheddar! Cheddar is far too greasy, and that is part of the reason why some people think this is too soupy. Fifth, bake covered at 350 for about 45 minutes then remove the foil and bake uncovered for about 45 more minutes. The casserole will only slightly brown on top, it is unlikely to burn. You may also want to turn the heat up to 375 if you think it is too soupy. It will condense if you give it long enough to cook. If you do all of the above, it will taste almost exactly like the Cracker Barrel's hash brown casserole. Be sure to let it cool for about 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven as well, as that helps it solidify.

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Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread

Reviewed: Mar. 27, 2008

Very good. If you use a cast iron skillet, feel free to simply spray it with cooking spray (save the calories, and there's no taste difference whatsoever). Also, this recipe filled my cast iron skillet (which may be on the small side- the iron is naturally molded into 8 separate "slices" of cornbread) as well as one muffin tin (6 muffins). I baked both side by side for 20 minutes at 375, and all was perfect.

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Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Reviewed: Dec. 13, 2007

This is perhaps the most fantastic cookie I have ever made in my life. Here are my tips: 1) I used 1/2 the amount of dried cranberries (actually used orange crasins) 2) I used 1 tsp. of orange zest and added it right into the batter (next time I am upping this to 1 tablespoon) 3) I used slivered almonds instead of the pistachio nuts. The slivered almonds worked very well because they did not "chunk up" the batter. 4) When I took the loaves out of the oven, I immediately covered them with two dishtowels so that the loaves would cool more slowly. It's the sudden change in temperature that makes things out of the oven "crack" on top, and the dishtowels minimized this. 5) I transferred one loaf at a time to my wooden cutting board and cut diagonal slices with a large bread knife. I did now saw. I simply leaned into it with my body weight, and all my slices came out pretty cleanly. I also first cut off just a tad bit from either in at first before cutting the slices off. 6) I melted white chocolate in the microwave and dipped on end in, then sprinkled with red and green colored sugars. By doing all of this, (oh, plus you MUST wet your fingertips while working with the dough before it goes in the oven), I got 24 clean slices. These freeze beautifully as well. I LOVE this recipe!

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952 users found this review helpful

Royal Icing I

Reviewed: Dec. 13, 2007

I actually really liked this icing a lot. I used it to glaze gingerbread people. The only thing is that it makes a TON TON TON of icing. I didn't think ahead and just made the whole recipe. I could have cut it by 1/4th or even 1/8th and still had a tad of leftover icing. One tip I have is to just use 1/2 of the vanilla extract. I was not looking for a "flavorful" icing- just a pretty one that would be very decorative and not detract from the flavor of the cookie underneath. This is it.

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Gingerbread People

Reviewed: Dec. 13, 2007

This is a good cookie, but there are a few issues with it. First of all, it's not really a gingerbread cookie. It's more of a "spice cookie." The finished product tastes almost exactly like a recipe I long ago came across called "ice box cookies." So if you want a gingerbread cookie, this is probably not the cookie for you. Having said that, the dough was incredibly crumbly. It basically formed coarse crumbs upon mixing with my hand held electric mixer. The crumbs do come together nicely when you pack them, but if you're looking for an easy dough to work with, then this isn't it. When all is said and done, they taste really great. But they aren't easy to make, and they don't really taste like gingerbread, hence the rating...

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Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

Reviewed: Nov. 5, 2006

This was really nice. I substituted 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice (and then added the remaining water to equal 2/3 cup as per directions). I also doubled all the spices except for the nutmeg. I also used 2 cups of white sugar and 1 cup light brown sugar. This took WAY more than 50 minutes to bake, however. Two pans side by side in a 350 oven will take about 65-70 minutes. The batter made 2 regular (8.5 x 4.5) loaf pans. It's totally delicious!

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Caramel Popcorn

Reviewed: Feb. 5, 2006

Yes, this is quite good. Here are a few tips that I think really helped me when I made this. First, I used DARK corn syrup and LIGHT brown sugar. I did not see anybody mention this, so I thought it might be important. Also, I did halve the recipe, and I did "run out" of the caramel before I ran out of popcorn-- mainly because I like a heavier coating (my batch is much more clustery). Also, thr BEST thing to do here is pop your own popcorn on the stovetop-- it's not at all greesy or salty that way, and it simply tastes better then anything coming from the microwave. To halve the recipe, I popped 1/2 cup of regular popping corn (and had few unpopped kernels), and that yielded roughly 12-13 cups of popcorn. If you want an estimate of how much a halved recipe yields when all is said and done.. I have just over one large mixing bowl full of caramel popcorn now, which would be good for 1-2 people when they are watching a movie or something. If you have kids or something, you fir sure want to make the full batch as indicated in the original recipe. :)

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Lahmahjoon (Armenian Pizza)

Reviewed: Feb. 5, 2006

I have never had this on either pita or a tortilla before. My great grandmother always made it on an extremely flat bread she made from scratch- it was like a soft cracker, similar to boraghatz (spelling?). She also used the ground lamb sparingly, so it was less condensed and more smattered in the sauce. I am still searching for the cracker-bread recipie, though, and will update if I find it.

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10 users found this review helpful