Original Recipe:
Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt (without if you use salted butter)
• 3 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.                 

Baker: Brittany

Assessment: Good, but mostly because I used Ghiradelli chips, these specifically:
The extra darkness of the chocolate made them pretty awesome.

Fixes: Maybe a little bit more flour and/or baking soda, the cookies flattened a lot when they came out of the oven.


Future Deliciousness: I added craisins to a few of these - good, but didn't necessarily make them better.

Creme Brulee

Original Recipe: Pioneer Woman's Creme Brulee

Baker: Brittany

Assessment: Amazing! (But I have made it before so I was aware) I'd gotten a creme brulee torch for Christmas so obviously I was eager to try it out.

Fixes: Make sure the sugar is somewhat evenly browned... On the left in the picture it was a little bit too done (the right side was perfection, however). Also, when adding the 2nd half of the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture, don't whip too hard - we did and it was a bit foamy on top (but clearly still delicious!)


Future Deliciousness:

Extra Credit: 

Cranberry-Lemon Scones

Original Recipe: Cranberry-Lemon Scones from Bon Appetit, 5/96, p. 50 (got this one from Nick back at Brown)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

¾ cup dried cranberry

¼ cup sugar + some to sprinkle on top

1 Tb lemon zest + some to sprinkle on top

1 Tb baking powder

1 ¼ cup whipping cream

½ tsp salt        

3 Tb melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425F.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

3.  Add zest, cranberries, and cream.

4. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface.

5. Knead gently, then form dough into a sheet one inch thick.

6. Cut out scones with glass or cutter; or make pie slice wedges.
7. Brush on butter, then sprinkle with lemon zest and sugar.

8. Bake 15 minutes on ungreased cookie sheets.

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: SO GOOD. These are so quick to make, and they're a favorite with the group of boys and girls I hung with at Brown. The men were the first to make them, they're so good.

Fixes: Doesn't need any. I just need a better oven, cuz mine is apparently really hot underneath.

Future Deliciousness: They would go so well with a warm beverage... Either earl grey or some creamy coffee.

Extra Credit:

They'd probably look better if I hadn't managed to burn the bottoms or if I'd used my camera for this pic rather than my phone. But I'm lucky I got the pic, they were going so quickly!

Lemon Curd (low fat!)

Original Recipe: Baking Bites - Lowfat Lemon Curd

Baker: Brittles

Assessment: Very good.  Wonderfully tart and still SUPER sweet so you really can't eat too much. As in... a spoonful is basically enough, therefore I will consider this a health food. (I also threw the ingredients into a calorie calculator and if by some unknown reason you COULD eat the whole thing, it would only be ~330 calories (about the same as a 1/2 cup of some B&J's ice cream)).

Fixes: None yet... but when it says low to bring it to a boil.... I had my stove at about low-medium and it took a WHILE, so just be patient and/or rush it a little bit by turning up the heat :P

Future Deliciousness: I baked these to put the curd into (like a sugar thumbprint cookie), but unfortunately I won't be able to do a full review because I rushed it and put two pans in the oven and the bottom pan (where i'd done all the cookies w/ the lemon curd) had the bottoms seriously burned :( .

Notes: Tried grapefruit curd.... not as good.  I ended up adding about half as much again of lemon juice..... grapefruits are good on their own for a reason I guess. Also, I added a drop of red food coloring to fix the color and it ended up not all stirring in so it has red flakes. Kitchenfail.

Extra Credit: 

Kalmata Tapenade

Original Recipe: From my head.

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: DELICIOUS


Recipe:

1. Put these in a blender: 2 cups of kalmata olive, 1 can of artichoke hearts, minced garlic to taste.
2. Add olive oil until it's the consistency you like (I like my tapenade heavy on ingredients, light on the oil.
3. Taste and adjust ingredients as necessary.
4. SO GOOD on toast.

Future Deliciousness: I like it on toast. Haven't tried crackers though.

Extra Credit: Oh... right... I ate it all... Maybe another time.

Curry Sweet Potato Fries

Original Recipe: Baked Curry Sweet Potato Fries, Joy the Baker

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: Meh. Good spice combination, but the rest of the process is unnecessary. And hers came out soggy whereas my version came out far more crisp (Yes, I did them both ways just to be sure).

Fixes:

1. Skip the egg whites. just mix the spices.
2. I do twice as much spice.
3. Cut the fries, toss in the oil, lay on a cookie sheet and  sprinkle the spices, then flip and do the same to the other.
4. This way doesn't take as long, just 10 minutes on each side.

Future Deliciousness: Needs WAY more salt. The sauce is good, though.

Extra Credit:

This is how her version came out, and they came out soggy.

Easy Egg Salad

Original Recipe: Egg Salad Sandwich, Joy the Baker

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: SO GOOD. Nomnomnommmm. I ate this for lunch 3 days straight.

Fixes: I don't really like mustard as much as most, so I left the mustard out of the mixture and just spread how much I wanted on my bread.


Future Deliciousness: I'm gonna use celery salt instead of regular salt next time just for kicks.

Extra Credit:

Ok, mine doesn't LOOK that good, but if you could just taste it... I put it on buttermilk bread.

Buttermilk Pancakes ("Clean-Your-Plate")

Original Recipe: Dad's "Clean Your Plate" Buttermilk Pancakes, Joy the Baker

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: REALLY GOOD. Best savory pancakes ever. Makes about 5/6 medium-sized pancakes.

Fixes: No fixes, but a few comments.

1. When you add the baking powder, it basically just becomes a huge ball of foam.  Don't be surprised.
2. It doesn't really spread out on the pan, so don't pour too much on.
3. I used bacon grease instead of "spray oil" .... and I enjoyed the result.

Future Deliciousness: Gonna try actually making it through the cooking process without eating each one as it's made.... So I can have eggs with it.

Extra Credit:

This is what it looks like in the pan. This pancake was a little too big, see what I mean in Fixes?

After I took this, I proceeded to scarf it down. It's fluffy and delicious.

I managed to get a stack.... a short one. Actually, the recipe makes like 5/6 pancakes of this size.

Jalapeno Pepper Jack Scones

Original Recipe: Jalapeno Pepper Jack Scones, Joy the Baker

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: Good, but slightly lacking. Potential to be delicious.

Fixes:

1. Double the salt. 1 tsp is not enough for 6 huge scones
2. Double the toppings. It came out great that way.
3. A note: Even if you leave all of the jalapeno seeds in, it isn't spicy.

Future Deliciousness: Doubling the toppings was totally the way to go.

Extra Credit:

Before baking, you need to fridge it.

Warm, deliciousness.

Lemon-Asparagus Risotto

Original Recipe: A cross between a recipe from the Pioneer Woman (will post that one next) and something my dad had at a restaurant.
Serves ~4+
1 cup arborio rice
1/2ish cup of white wine (not sweet, a dry citrusy wine is nice)
2 cups chicken broth
2 lemons (zest and juice)
1 onion, diced
Butter
Bunch of asparagus
Parmesan cheese, shredded, about a cup

Start by dicing your onion and cooking until translucent in the butter (which you have melted in a pot over medium heat).  At this point I would also wash/prep the lemons and asparagus.  Zest the lemons and chop the asparagus into bite sized bits (usually about 1 cm long when I do it) *tip! to get rid of the woody part of asparagus at the bottom, just bend it! The part you don't want to eat will snap right off!* Once the onions are translucent, add the rice and start stirring it around.  Do this until it smells nutty/toasty.  As you're doing this, have the broth heating up elsewhere (I use the microwave, other people put it in a kettle on the stove - the point is that when you add it to the rice you want it to be hot/not cool down what you have).  Add the wine and continue stirring until just about all of the liquid is absorbed.  Then start adding the heated broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, making sure you stir regularly.  Once half of the broth has been added, add in the zest and asparagus to the mixture and keep stirring.  (I usually preheat the asparagus for ~30 seconds in the microwave, but it doesn't really matter, it just keeps it from slowing the process down too much).  Continue stirring and adding broth.  Once the broth is gone I use use hot water because I don't feel like adding another can, but for my brand of arborio it's typically ~3 cups of liquid per one cup of rice, although your mileage may vary. At some point in here, make sure to add the lemon juice - start with one lemon and taste it to make sure you need the other (depending on your size of lemons/preference).  Continue adding liquid until the risotto had the right bite to it (chewy but not crunchy).  Then take the pot off of the heat and add in the parmesan and stir until melted.  Then... enjoy! :)

Baker: Brittany

Assessment: Super tasty. I have made it about 15+ times and it is always pretty awesome.  Sometimes I add black pepper, but it doesn't really miss it without.  It has made a believer out of a family who doesn't even LIKE asparagus! Also, I can pretend it's healthy because it's 1/2 vegetable!

Fixes: Picture doesn't show that it's best served with steak or pork or chicken (ok, anything...)


Future Deliciousness: My sundried tomato risotto will be coming up soon....

Extra Credit: 

Pineapple Chicken

Original Recipe: 
2 Chicken breasts
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 tbsp corn starch
1 can pineapple tidbits (I used in juice, original recipe calls for in syrup, but clearly we're being healthy here)
2 tbsp flour with some salt and pepper for seasoning
oil for cooking.

Cut chicken into chunks and toss in the flour/salt/pepper mixture.  Put in oil heated in pan and cook for ~5 minutes.  As it cooks (or before) drain the pineapple and reserve the juice (it calls for 1/2 cup, but just use what you get) and mix the juice with soy sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch.  Add this sauce to the pan and heat until thickened and the chicken is done.  Then add pineapple until heated through.

Baker: Brittany

Assessment: Good for ghetto chinese.  A bit salty, but seriously tasty.  I love how tender and moist the chicken stays (prolly because of the flour coating? IDK but it's my favorite part).  Wonderful served with rice and we added some snow peas tonight too (added a nice crunch).

Fixes: Could have used more vinegar for a bit more tang.


Future Deliciousness: It's an old recipe from my mom's family... so it's pretty stuck in its ways.

Extra Credit: Gone too soon/I don't have an iphone :(

Question from vitrailmiroir: What did you serve it with? Noodles? Rice?
Answer: We've always served it with rice, makes for a good way to soak up the sauce and continues allowing you to pretend it's Chinese :)

Chocolate-Covered Bacon

Original Recipe: Top of my head

2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 stick of butter (4 tbs)
1 pack of bacon, cooked to your preference (you'll still have some leftover chocolate)

1. Melt butter in pan on low heat
2. Add chocolate to pan, stirring constantly
3. Using tongs, lay bacon flat in chocolate, press down to coat, and repeat on other side

Keeps well in the freezer if you're like me and can't handle more than a piece or two at a time.  Keep chocolate covered fruit in refrigerator, or you have to wait like 10 minutes for it to be warm enough to eat.

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: DELCIOUS though not nutritious :-P

Fixes:

1. Thicker bacon/double-layer the bacon.
2. You may be tempted to reduce the amount of butter to make it healthier, but less butter makes the chocolate less dip-able.

Future Deliciousness: I used the same chocolate to dip strawberries. Now I'm thinking of having a chocolate fondue...

Extra Credit:

Delicious!

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

Original Recipe: Joy the Baker

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: Absolutely delicious. Going to make it again and again.

Fixes:

1. Didn't really need all 4 tbs of butter for the filling, so I'll probably only use 2 tbs next time
2. In my super-thick dish, i had to bake it at 300F for 1 hour to get the right texture distribution.
3. My dough didn't rise very quickly, so I'll probably pre-warm the oven until it's a little warmer than my house, which is apparently cold.

Future Deliciousness: Cream cheese frosting? Mmmmm. I think so.

Baker: Brittles

Assessment: Oh man sooo good.  Best when reheated slightly in the microwave if for some reason it's not finished in the hour or so after it comes out of the oven.

Fixes:

1. To help your dough rise, my suggestion that I saw recommended elsewhere is to take a custard cup type bowl half filled w/ water, heat it in the microwave, and then leave the hot bowl of water in the microwave w/ the dough that you want to rise. Worked like a charm!
2. Also, I might suggest a pan that isn't so thick? I don't know if that was your problem, but a thinner pan might allow the heat to get to the center more quickly.
3. When I piled all of the pieces of dough in the pan, I sort of alternated them so they were slightly zigzagged, which made for a nice way to pull it apart/parts of each part were thinner/thicker than others.

Extra Credit:

Before. (vitrailmiroir)

After. (vitrailmiroir)