Cook Club: Nigella's Christmas

NIGELLA'S CHRISTMAS

TOTAL SCORE: 3.84

Highest Scoring Dishes: Boozy British Trifle / Poinsettia

Lowest Scoring Dishes: Roast Squash and Sweet Potato Soup / Panettone and Sausage Stuffing

For Christmas 2009, I received Nigella Lawson's "Nigella's Christmas" as a gift!  Even just reading it, I LOVED this cookbook.  It had Nigella's typical lovely commentary -- little bits of insight into her life as well as her own suggestions and solutions for a fun holiday season.  Even better, the recipes looked applicable to all sorts of parties and even just your everyday dinner.  All in all, it was a very jovial and enjoyable cookbook to read through.  So when November/December cook club rolled around, I thought Nigella Christmas would be a wonderful cookbook to try out -- many of our members are quite busy around the holiday season, so I wanted a cookbook that would be applicable for all those holiday parties and gatherings that everyone would go to.  So thanks to everyone for taking part!  Here's how it all turned out:


APPETIZERS

Amanda's Roast Squash and Sweet Potato Soup with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Swirl

Score: 2.5

Of all the recipes I chose, I was most excited about this one, so, I was a little disappointed in how the soup turned out. Overall the dish was a bit bland, and missing some flavor...I am still unsure what. While I was preparing the soup, I liked the fact that the recipe said to leave the potatoes and squash unpeeled (much easier prep!), but disliked it when the soup was put together. The flecks of skin gave the soup an odd texture (yuck!). As a whole, the recipe was very straightforward and easy to prepare, I just wish the flavor would have been better. 

Jackie's Cranberry and Soy-Glazed Cocktail Sausages

Score: 4.0

These sausages were SUPER simple to make and a big hit at the holiday party we had my house!  I ended up using small cocktail sausages instead of breakfast sausages, and all it required was mixing up the marinade, letting the sausages marinate for several hours/overnight, and then baking it up.  These definitely had a bit of a zing -- I love the slight heat with the tangy flavor.  Definitely would make again!

ENTREES


Sonia's Butternut Orzotto
Score: 3.5

I made this dish the night before my company's Thanksgiving potluck lunch, and with a bit of extra vegetable stock, it reheated nicely.  This recipe made A LOT of orzo, so I would recommend scaling it down if you're not cooking for a crowd.  I interpreted the "mace" in the recipe as cayenne pepper, and halved the amount in the recipe (1 teaspoon would have been overkill), which gave the dish a substantial and unexpected kick.  The combination of the mascarpone cheese and pureed squash with the cubed pieces, along with the the pine nuts, was a nice blend of textures.  The taste was good, but it lacked a depth of flavor (parmesan cheese? salt? herbs?) that would have really elevated this dish to something special.


Suzie's Cornish Game Hen

Score: 4.75  

As someone who had never made any type of whole poultry before, I was surprised that they are actually very simple to make (except for the fact that I forgot to defrost them).  The prep is easy, and then you just have to put them in the oven while you do anything else you need to do.  They take over an hour, so its not a quick meal, but certainly not difficult. They turned out super yummy and moist, and I was told they were even better than the ones we had at an actual restaurant the week before  :)  The flavors were nice and complemented the couscous that I will comment on later.  Only problem was that my spice rack was a little lacking in the spices, so it made it a little more expensive the first time.

SIDE DISHES


Amanda's Redder than Red Cranberry Sauce
Score: 4

Cranberry sauce is one of my favorites, so when I saw this recipe, I HAD to try it! Honestly, I was expecting the recipe to have a few more ingredients or steps, but the dish did not disappoint. I chose to use Cointreau instead of cherry brandy, (mainly because I couldn't find a small bottle of cherry brandy) and was glad I did! I loved the orange flavor the Cointreau added to the dish, and the simplicity of the flavors were perfect. The entire recipe took 10 minutes, start to finish, so it's definitely an easy one to throw together when lots of other cooking is going on. I will definitely make this again!

Anjali's Beet and Ginger Chutney

Score: 3.25

This was a totally random pick. most because I love condiments and have never cooked with beets.  It was fairly easy (apart from the fact that chopping beets is hard!). The end result was fine, but I had to wonder with what Nigella intended me to eat it.  The British do have a somewhat odd palette...

Jackie's Panettone and Italian Sausage Stuffing

Score: 2.5

We made this dish as part of our Thanksgiving dinner with my family...  I was disappointed with the dryness of the stuffing, but my husband and my dad loved the stuffing with its sausage.  This makes a HUGE portion of stuffing (well, I suppose the fact that we made another stuffing along with this one made us a little ... overstuffed :)).  I didn't feel like this stuffing had much more to it other than sausage, bread, and a few veggies, and that it wasn't very flavorful.


Suzie's Festive Couscous

Score: 4.75

Once again, super easy to make.  I had the same problem with the spices as with the hen, but I certainly needed to expand my spice rack.  Other than that, you could certainly subsitute different components for this dish.  I added cranberries and pecans because I had them for the cookies, and couldn't find pomegranite seeds.  But quite delicious and a nice break from the usual side dishes I make.

DESSERTS

Sonia's Gold Dust Cookies
Score: 4

This dessert wins points for its aesthetic appeal.  The gold dust (I used pearl dust, not real gold powder) gives the cookies a subtle sheen, and the star shape definitely gives it a holiday feel.  I served the cookies at Jackie's holiday party on a gold-colored plate, which made them look extra pretty.  But, the real surprise here is the flavor.  It looks innocently like a sugar cookie, but the ground ginger is a nice twist that gives a bit of warmth and spiciness.  My only complaint is that they are crunchy, and I prefer a soft and chewy cookie.  This did not vary despite tweaks of thickness of the dough or decreased baking time.  The taste was still very good, though!

Amanda's Spruced-Up Vanilla Cake

Score: 3

I opted to make the "spiced" version of this cake, with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and I think that was a good choice. This recipe reminded me of a bread (Friendship bread) that my mom used to bake. The cake was very easy to put together, but I was a little nervous to bake it in a bundt pan. In my experience, cakes are not cooperative in these types of pans. I was correct...the cake completely fell apart when I turned it out of the bundt pan! Overall, I was not a huge fan of the flavor. I thought it needed more spice, but my parents loved it! It flew off the plate within a matter of days. I will probably try this again, but with more spice. :)

Lisa H's Boozy British Trifle

Score: 5

I should first start out by saying I like trifle.   Correct that I LOVE trifle!  Whenever I have a chance to have it, I will.   So, when I saw this recipe I had to try it.  Well it turned out GREAT!  I think this recipe calls for a bit more sherry than most recipes, which is good because I think it makes the cake more moist.  An additional trick that I used was to lay the pieces of pound cake on a cookie sheet when applying the sherry.   It helped to spread the sherry more evenly.  This made the cake layer significantly more moist.   Which is always, as Martha says, “a good thing”.   I’ve never used frozen berries before but they turned out surprisingly well.  They held their consistency and tasted fresh even in the dead of winter.  I did not use the rose petals as suggested, but if I had some I would.  

Jackie's Sticky Gingerbread Cake

Score: 4.25

I made this for a holiday party at my work.  The cake was moist and had a wonderful light ginger taste -- it smelled and tasted just like the holidays.  I definitely recommend taking Nigella's suggestion in frosting the cake with a cream cheese frosting or a lemon frosting or dusting it with powdered sugar (I didn't do either due  to transporting issues and figuring that people dressed in dark colors wouldn't want powdered sugar all over themselves!) -- without, it looked a little bit plain, which may have explained why those cupcakes covered in icing flew off the dessert table faster than the gingerbread cake!  No worries though, I took the leftovers home to my parents' house and my dad devoured the cake. (...and then I powdered sugar on it for the photo ;)) So, I think it was a success :)


Suzie's Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Score: 4

Basic cookie from scratch as far as technical difficulty.  Uses pecans and oatmeal, so makes for a nice grainy, healthier feel for it :-P.  They came out a little crunchier than I prefer for cookies (I like mine super soft), but I found even when I cooked them less, they didn't have the chewiness that I like.  But I certainly liked the flavors of the cranberry and white chocolate.

BREAKFAST

Amanda's Triple Cheese and Onion Strata

Score: 4

Typically, I am not a huge fan of stratas because of their soggy nature, but this recipe caught my eye. The recipe said to let the bread stale throughout the day, but I decided to leave it out for a good part of the day and overnight to see if that would help some of the sogginess. It turned out to be a good decision. The strata was flavorful, and not at all soggy. Yay! The recipe was very easy to put together. The only problem was that I used the tops of green onions to garnish, instead of chives, which made the onion flavor a little too strong. I will definitely make this again! 

Anjali's Pumpkin Pancakes

Score 3

I chose these because I love both pumpkins and pancakes! I also thought this would be a good breakfast dish for the holidays.  It was very straightforward, sadly, when I see the words baking soda and baking powder, my "non-baker" self starts getting scared! Additionally, my mother does not own measuring spoons.  Indian food doesn't require them. ;) Therefore, I had to approximate...which I knew would alter the final product. And it did; the batter was a bit thick. Nevertheless, we happily ate our pumpkin pancakes

BEVERAGES

Sonia's Poinsettia
Score: 5

Party punch is an irresistible delight for me, and this recipe did not disappoint as the signature cocktail for our Christmas party.  I used a cranberry-pomegranate juice blend, the tartness of which was sweetened with the orange flavor of the triple sec.  I loved the bubbles of the sparking wine--it made the drink feel fun and fancy. The color was also quite stunning, so don't even think about serving this in Solo cups!  I garnished each glass with a few pomegranate seeds, and it was perfect.



And as a bonus... the recipe to one of the top scoring recipes: 


BOOZY BRITISH TRIFLE


INGREDIENTS
For the custard:

4 cups heavy cream
8 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the base:
2 plain pound cakes (12 ounces each)
One 12-ounce jar strawberry or blackberry preserve
2 cups cream sherry or sweet sherry
Two 12-ounce bags frozen mixed berries, thawed zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons superfine sugar (not needed if using fresh fruits)

For the topping:
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup shelled pistachios
1 tablespoon crystallized rose petals (or crystallized violet petals)

DIRECTIONS:

1. To make the custard, heat the cream in a large, wide, heavy-based pan and while it's heating, whisk the egg yolks, whole eggs and superfine sugar in a bowl.

2. When the cream's at boiling point--though, do not let it actually boil--take it off the heat and pour it over the eggs and sugar, whisking as you go.

3. Wash out the pan (boring, but it does have to be done!), then pour the uncooked custard back into it and return to the heat.

4. Cook over a medium heat (people will tell you it should be low heat but that is just too tedious for words!), stirring all the time, until it has thickened. It must never boil!

5. After 10-15 minutes, it should be thick enough, so straightaway pour it into a cold, clean bowl, add the vanilla extract, and whisk a bit to help bring the temperature down.

6. Cover the very top of the custard, as well as the bowl, with plastic wrap and leave to cool, while you start assembling your trifle.

7. Cut each pound cake into 16 slices and make into sandwiches with the preserve. Squidge these into the base of your trifle bowl. A trifle bowl should, I feel, be glass so you can see the layers from the outside. The proportions vary and, since the point of the trifle is the layers, the dimensions of your bowl will determine how these build up and the amount of cake etc. you will need.

8. Pour the sherry over the cake sandwiches and let it soak in.

9. Now tumble in the thawed berries, with a little of their liquid. (It might seem unseasonal to use "summer" fruits, but I love their tartness against the sweetness of the custard that will drape over them.) Then grate the zest of the orange over the fruit and sprinkle with the superfine sugar; if you're not using frozen fruit (which tends to be sour), don't bother with the sugar.

10. When the custard's cool, remove the plastic wrap. Pour and scrape the custard on top of the berries. It will be soft-set: thickened but far from solid. Cover the bowl (not the custard this time) with some fresh plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half a day or up to 2 days--it's this standing time that makes the difference.

11. When you are ready to serve, take the trifle out of the refrigerator to stand for about 1 hour. Whisk the cream until softly whipped. You don't want it to merge with the custard, but nor do you want it stiffly peaking.

12. Remove the plastic wrap from the trifle bowl and spread the whipped cream on top of the custard with a rubber spatula.

13. Finely chop the pistachios, sprinkle over the top of the trifle and adorn with a few, beautiful crystallized rose petals (or crystallized violet petals, if you prefer).

Cook Club: Bon Appetit, Y'all

BON APPETIT, Y'ALL BY VIRGINIA WILLIS


FINAL SCORE: 4.25

HIGHEST SCORING DISHES: Amanda's Vidalia Onion Confit with Garlic Toasts and Jackie B's Green Beans

For September/October Cook Club, the lovely Amanda picked out Bon Appetit, Y'all by Virginia Willis. Here's a little bit about why Amanda picked this cookbook: "The book I chose for this month's cook club is Bon Appetit, Y'all by Virginia Willis. Virginia Willis is a native Southerner who was French trained as a chef, and all of her recipes have heavy influences of both cultures. I adore Southern culture and cooking, so this book seemed like an obvious choice! :) My parents introduced me to this cook book over a year ago, and they love it!" The list of dishes looked AMAZING to me -- it was so hard to pick out dishes to make. And I was very happy with my selections! Thanks Amanda for leading us this round!

STARTERS AND NIBBLERS

Amanda's Vidalia Onion Confit with Garlic Toasts

Score: 5

This recipe was super easy to put together and very straightforward. I actually made it the night before to allow the flavors to develop,and was so glad I did! The only problem I ran into was the availability of vidalia onions...they were nowhere to be found! After a call to my mother, the gardening guru, I learned that vidalia onions are more of a "summer onion"(who knew?), so I had to settle for yellow onions. My mom swore that these were acceptable substitute, and she was right! The dish was flavorful, and was only enhanced by blue cheese--per the author's suggestion. I will definitely make this again, either as a starter, or as a condiment with pork or chicken.  (Anjali's thoughts: 4.75!  So yummy, loved the blue cheese with the onions.  Simple!).  

Anjali's Mama's Sausage Pecan Balls

Score: 4.0

So this was actually Stephen's recipe, but Amanda accidentally sent it to me and I TOTALLY stole it. ;) Again, another simple appetizer recipe for all the fabulous parties I attend. (in my dreams) One tip for the recipe. I attempted to make the batter without the food processor and failed, but once I did put it in the food processor, it came together beautifully. Use your tools! Otherwise, it was simple and yummy!  I felt they were a little dry but the other guests did not feel that way.  You know me, I like hot sauce with everything. ;)

(Jackie's note: I was jealous that someone grabbed this before I could!  I definitely will want to make this too...)

Anjali's Heirloom Tomato and Olive Tartines

Score: 4.5

Thought this would be a good, easy appetizer recipe to have under my belt.  It was so simple! I was really surprised to see the addition of thyme and rosemary, but I LOVED them in the tapenade! They really cut the strong flavor of the olives, which I feel often scares people away from anything olive-related.  This had a really mild, rich flavor and was so simple to make.  Will definitely make this again!

Amanda's Thyme Toasted Pecans

Score: 3.5

Virginia Willlis was correct about this recipe...the fragrance is amazing when all of the ingredients are combined with the warm toasted pecans. Unfortunately, they were not very flavorful. I still love this recipe, and will make it again, just with more pepper, salt, and thyme!

Lisa H.'s Pimento Cheese

Score: (by Anjali) 4.5 

MAIN COURSES

Jackie's Coca-Cola Glazed Baby Back Ribs

Score: 3.75

I've always wanted to make my own ribs and what is more perfect than a Southern cookbook to try out a ribs recipe?  This dish was actually a lot of fun to make... and the smell of the ribs was AMAZING while they were cooking.  The ribs were sweet (use lots of napkins!), but lacked depth in flavor.  Still tasty though.  I think next time I would maybe add a bit more salt or maybe hot sauce? 

Jackie's Country Captain Chicken

Score: 4.5

I hadn't realized how prevalent curry flavors were in the South until I did some research on Country Captain chicken!  And this does not disappoint.  I used boneless skinless chicken breasts here -- Ms. Willis suggests cooking the chicken for a shorter period of time if using boneless skinless breasts... which I tried, but the chicken was still not cooked enough.  I think next time I would cut the breasts down in a size so they are all the same size and would cook quicker!  The chicken is coated in flour with a bit of a paprika kick and the coating gets browned a bit at first to give the chicken a nice taste.  Then the chicken is piled into a pot with tomatoes, golden raisins, peppers... yum.  Mr. J LOVED this dish and happily ate it for dinner for days to come.  Definitely will make again!

SIDE DISHES

Jackie's $20,000 Rice Pilaf

Score: 4.5

Amanda sent this recipe to me to go with my Country Captain Chicken and I am sure glad she did!  When I was growing up, I always loved when my parents made for me rice with "vegetable sauce"... or rice with some chicken broth that had vegetable cooked in it.  And this reminded me of that.  Unlike other rice recipes I've tried, this one was cooked in the oven.  After toasting the rice a bit on the stove, the pot goes into the oven for the rice to cook up in chicken broth.  Yesss, yummy chicken broth.  It takes no time at all, the rice was super fluffy and very flavorful.  I could have actually just eaten the rice by itself. 

Jackie B.'s Green Beans

Score: (by Anjali) 5

Anjali's thoughts: this was possibly the biggest hit at the party. FIVE POINT OHHHHH :)

BREADS

Amanda's Cheddar Cornbread

Score: 4

In my opinion, cornbread is generally pretty amazing. Cornbread with cheese? Even better! The recipe was very easy to throw together, and had a great flavor. I liked that the recipe used buttermilk instead of milk, which makes the flavor a little richer. I usually make cornbread with shortening, and this recipe recommended butter, which was equally yummy! This definitely isn't a substitute for regular cornbread, but it will be nice to have something different every once in awhile.

DESSERT

Lisa H.'s Pecan Brownies

Score: (by Anjali) 3.5

Thanks so much to Amanda for heading up this round!!

Cook Club: Lost Recipes: Kitchen-Tested Heirloom Recipes Too Good to Forget

LOST RECIPES:

KITCHEN-TESTED HEIRLOOM RECIPES TOO GOOD TO FORGET

TOTAL SCORE: 3.63

Highest Scoring Dishes: Sunday Sago and Salted Butter Cookies

Lowest Scoring Dish: Brown Sugar Fudge

Rachel headed up our July/August Cook Club and picked out the recipe-filled Lost Recipes: Kitchen-Tested Heirloom Recipes Too Good to Forget.  In Rach's words:  "I think I found something that will be fun for everyone. The July/August cookbook is actually a hefty magazine from Cook's Country - Lost Recipes: Kitchen-Tested Heirloom Recipes Too Good to Forget. I love to read old cookbooks - the older the better - but I rarely cook out of them because the recipes seem so weird or the ingredients are too hard to find in a modern store.  The promise of this collection of recipes is that they are original recipes that let you "taste our culinary past" without the risk - they have passed the Cook's Country test and each one should be worth making. You can find the ingredients without a time machine, and the techniques have been updated where necessary to fit the modern kitchen."

I was excited to try this cookbook (I quite heart Cook's Country and its sister company, America's Test Kitchen).  I decided to check out the cookbook for myself at my local Barnes & Noble, and as it turns out, this cookbook has expanded into not one, but two cookbooks: America's Best Lost Recipes: 121 Kitchen-Tested Heirloom Recipes Too Good to Forget and Cook's Country Best Lost Suppers.  The recipes we sampled span these two cookbooks . . . and the cookbooks offer many more recipes (with loads of helpful tips and hints).  The first cookbook tends more towards desserts and baked goods, and the second cookbook, as its title implies, more entrees and savory dishes.

Thanks Rach for introducing us to this cookbook!

APPETIZERS

Lisa W's Brooklyn Cheese Puffs
Score: 4.0

I chose this recipe because I am always looking for fun appetizers for entertaining. Other cheese puffs/ball that I have made in the past have been fried. Needless to say, I was very excited when this recipe required baking of the puffs. This is a very simple and tasty recipe. My only suggestion is that if you make puffs that are ping pong ball size (as I did), I would bake them for 20 minutes , instead of 10 minutes. I will definitely make these again!

Amanda's Corn Oysters
Score: Corn Oysters Alone = 2, With Remoulade = 4.  Score = 3.0

I was both intimidated and excited to make this recipe. Intimidated, because it involved deep frying, and excited, because I like fried food. :) The corn was very fresh and sweet, which gave the "oysters" an interesting flavor. The recipe was fairly quick and easy to assemble, and I managed to live through my first deep frying experience without any major disasters. Once cooked, the oysters were kind of...bland. They needed salt, at a minimum, and lots of other spice intervention. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to make remoulade sauce in advance, which helped quite a bit! I think this recipe is great, but I will definitely add spices to the batter next time...or make remoulade again. :) (Anjali scored this dish as 3.25)

MAIN DISHES

Anjali's International Date Line Chicken
Score: 4.25

I picked this dish because I feel like I always make the same old chicken dishes. The recipe was straightforward, as was the prep. It is the first time I have worked with bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, but I didn't find them to be difficult. The end result smelled so good and it tasted yummy. It is relatively healthy, too! (The recipe calls for removal of the skin after cooking) I will definitely keep this in my arsenal.

Jackie's Oh My God Chicken
Score: 4.4

I was in search of recipes that I could make and enjoy the leftovers for days to come...  I admit I was intrigued by the name of this dish and thought that I had vaguely heard of "Oh My God Chicken" before.  And really, how could "Oh My God Chicken" not be good?  Happy to say, it was delicious.  The mixture of slow cooked onions and peppers with the chicken broth and white wine made the chicken thighs deliciously flavorful (boned-in, skin-on ... how rarely I used chicken thighs these days, but didn't want the chicken to dry out!  So chicken thighs was the cut of choice!  Not til after I already bought the chicken thighs did I notice that the recipe also provided times for chicken breasts... note to self!).  Our house smelled amazing.  A note that I should have heeded better -- the recipe warns to be careful with your salt seasoning...and I should have followed this because I was a bit heavy handed on the salt, which was perhaps the only downside to this dish.  Definitely will make again!

Stephen's Sunday Sago
Score: 4.5

I tackled the Sunday Sago and the Salted Butter Cookies. Overall both were excellent, I'd give each a 4.5. A few modifications were made to the sago, sorry, but it was totally necessary. I grew up with a family who literally made this every Sunday. Old Italian tradition, and a damn good one! The original sauce had almost no flavor. So to help it out, I doubled the oregano, added an equal amount of thyme, and 2 bay leaves. That still wasn't enough so I then added 2 teapsoons vegetable base, a bottle of pinot noir, and let it simmer an extra 2 hours. That did the trick :) So I mighta went a little overboard, but I can't help it, this is one dish I have high standards for, and will always be the one that only mom could make.  (Anjali scored this dish as well with 4.25 and YUM!)

Amanda's Galveston Shrimp Creole
Score: 3.5

This recipe was fun to make...mostly because it involved making a roux, and I am always interested in learning new and different techniques to make one.(Before making this recipe, I wasn't aware that different techniques existed...thanks for the tip, Dad!) The recipe was fairly involved in the begininng, but was very easy towards the end (simmer for 2 hours, add shrimp, serve). Overall, I thought the finished product was lacking quite a bit in flavor-it needed more salt, and Tabasco! :)

SIDE DISHES

Anjali's Maryland Caramel Tomatoes
Score: 3.5

I like Maryland, caramel, and tomatoes, so this seemed like a good option for me. Again, incredibly straightforward, which I always appreciate. Not that it wasn't disconcerting to put brown sugar on tomatoes! Nevertheless, they turned out well and all of us enjoyed them. An easy side dish.

Lisa W's Great-Grandma's Corn Fritters
Score: 3.0

Great-Grandma needs some spice in her life! These corn fritters were very simple to make, but the flavor was greatly enhanced by the addition of red chili pepper. I made two batches, one following granny’s recipe and one adding some spice. My husband definitely preferred the batch with the chili pepper. Since the batter required tartar sauce, I served them with the tartar sauce. The tartar sauce was a nice complement to the fritters.

DESSERTS

Stephen's Salted Butter Cookies
Score: 4.5

As for the cookies, I was surprised. Didn't know what to expect, but I liked them a lot. I didn't change anything in the recipe. I was really nervous about the chocolate filling. I've never heard of mixing it in that fashion, but it worked for the most part. It would have been much better to use heavy cream. The cookies had a nice crunchy/chewy texture, the salt flavor stood out just a bit more than a usual cookie and I liked it. The leftover cookies were taken care of that night with a big glass of milk. This was followed by the next night where I demolished the rest of cookies from the leftover dough that I saved.  (Anjali scored this dish with a 4.5 and "I jokingly called these Pepperidge Farm Cookies - SO GOOD")

Jackie's Sugar Cookies
Score: 4.25

These cookies were pretty fantastic!  I originally picked these a dish I could make with my niece, but ended up baking these for my office instead...  These cookies don't actually contain much sugar -- just a 1/2 cup -- and they were just sweet enough.  Even better, they were wonderfully fluffy, soft, and cakey.  If you like crisp cookies, this isn't the recipe for you.  Lucky for me, my go-to cookies are soft...  I think that I rolled my dough out a bit too thick, but I didn't mind having thicker cookies!  The recipe was a multi-step process that included at least a 2 hour chilling period, so plan accordingly :)  I think next time I might try these as snickerdoodles with sugar AND cinnamon.  Yum.

Rachel's Brown Sugar Fudge
Score: 2

I don't like fudge, but I love brown sugar, and since I don't make candy very often I thought I'd give it a try. I don't have a candy thermometer, and I don't recommend trying to make this recipe without one. It never really lightened or got matte the way it was supposed to when I was stirring it after cooling, which probably means I did not cook it for long enough, or maybe didn't get it hot enough. After an hour in the pan, it thickened but never set up and it was clear I wasn't going to be able to cut it into pieces.

The flavor is very good - butter and molasses notes, mostly - but not very interesting at all. I think it would make a good frosting for a not-very-sweet spice cake, so I scraped it all into a tub and stuck it in the freezer to use sometime this fall. I'll just thaw it and thin with a bit of whole milk.

Not recommended. You can make normal brown sugar frosting with a lot less work (this recipe requires 10 minutes of vigorous beating by hand!).

Amanda's Peach Puzzle
Score: 3.0

I found this recipe to be a little frustrating. The directions were a bit unclear-it said to peel the peaches, but I wasn't sure what to do after (half, slice, leave whole), because the recipe didn't mention it. I finally decided to halve them, for the sake of time, which worked out pretty well. The crust completely confused me, simply because I don't have tons of experience with making my own crust (pillsbury makes great ones, just saying :)), but I pressed on, and ended up with a lumpy, cobblerlike crust. The flavor was fine, but it definitely did not match the description in the recipe! Ha. I would have added a little cinnamon to the sauce before drizzling it over the peaches, had it occurred to me to taste it beforehand. Inverting the dessert made for a nice presentation, but overall it was not one of my favorites. (Anjali scored this dish with 3.5 - "always love peach desserts!")

BREAKFAST

Jackie's Fluffies
Score: 3.3

I originally picked this recipe based on its name (I had no idea what "fluffies" would be) and it made perfect sense when I found out they were pancakes.  I made these small pancakes for my pancake-loving parents-in-law one weekend while we were at the beach.  Although I loved just how fluffy the pancakes were (the secret is in the whipped egg whites!), I wasn't as big of a fan of the sour cream flavor.  My parents-in-law were very kind, and said they enjoyed their "fresh" flavor (from the sour cream), but that flavor wasn't for me.  Still though, a good recipe, although I don't know if I'll be making these for myself again.