Did you have a Christmas recipe failure?

[SplshMtn99]

I know better than to make a new dish for the first time when you have lots of people for dinner, but I did it anyway.

I wanted to make rice pilaf & do it in the crock pot to free up my time for other cooking on Christmas Day.

Google, found a crock pot recipe for rice pilaf.

Results: flavor was good according to everyone, but it was a sticky mess my my standards.

Luckily, I had lots of other food including mashed potatoes, so all was not lost.

Any other confessions?

 

[Disneyland1084]

I know better than to make a new dish for the first time when you have lots of people for dinner, but I did it anyway.

I wanted to make rice pilaf & do it in the crock pot to free up my time for other cooking on Christmas Day.

Google, found a crock pot recipe for rice pilaf.

Results: flavor was good according to everyone, but it was a sticky mess my my standards.

Luckily, I had lots of other food including mashed potatoes, so all was not lost.

Any other confessions?

This wasn't on Christmas, but a few days ago. I made mashed potatoes from scratch a few days ago. I didn't boil the potatoes long enough, and there were too many chunks in it.

 

[dhcoffey]

Even though I don't eat it, I made a baked french toast with strawberry sauce for Fri. morning breakfast. It was eaten for the most part but most said it tasted funny, so I think they went hungry until lunch because they didn't tell me until much later.

Heather

 

[Carpenters]

I worked at the hospital for Christmas so didn't cook, but when I talked to my parents, my mom told me that Dad ate the cake she was trying to bake with a spoon because it never got to cake consistency!

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I wouldn't call it a disaster, but DH wanted me to make this cheesey mashed potatoe thing that we saw on Everyday Italian (on foodnetwork) It wasn't really cheesey, and had WAY to much parma for me, but he really loved it, so I guess thats all that matters!!

 

[Ohiodislover]

DH wanted me to make the yucky carrots that his mother makes. No one else will even touch them, besides him, and his mom. I asked her for the recipe, and made them exactly like she said. The were soooo soupy. He said the taste was right though.

I didn't like the cake i made, but the rest of the family thought it was the bomb, so I guess that doesn't count.

 

[clarabelle]

I made a pot roast for just the 4 of us on Christmas day and it was stringy and chewy.
I need some help in picking out cuts of meat I think

 

[Crystal0608]

Yes, the butterscotch pie w/ whiskey in the Jan All You mag. Dh thought it looked good, so he bought all the ingredients to make 4 pies & I made it to the "T". It wasn't sweet enough, I really didn't like it & I got no compliments on it whatsoever (luckily I told them it was my 1st time making it). Dh wouldn't even try it and it was expensive to make! Luckily, my reeces peanut butter pie made up for it, it got gone!

 

[LakeAriel]

I saw a package of pearl onions in the supermarket and thought that I would make creamed onions. (should have stuck with frozen or skipped)

Peeling them was revolting IMO..We were baking cookies (to decorate with the children) at the same time and the boiling onions stunk up the place. Then there must have been 100 different creamed onion recipes online, most more complicated then I had counted on...blanch..brown..cloves...nutmeg...What?!!

I settled on the simpliest..flour, butter, milk..but suffice it to say..Never again..By the time they were peeled it was only about a cup and still there were left overs!

 

[pat fan]

I made Tiramasu for the first time, in a new pan (springform) and I had a disaster happen!

It came out fine, looked great, so we took it to my mom's for the big family get-together and as I bent over to put in the fridge, I must have bumped the lever on the pan and the whole bottom of the pan fell out and my Tiramasu landed half on the floor, half on the bottom of the fridge !!! !!!!

Luckily, the part on the fridge I was able to scrape up and everyone ate it and said it was amazing, it just didn't look all pretty and fancy. Oh well. At least it tasted good, right?

 

[Ohiodislover]

I made Tiramasu for the first time, in a new pan (springform) and I had a disaster happen!

It came out fine, looked great, so we took it to my mom's for the big family get-together and as I bent over to put in the fridge, I must have bumped the lever on the pan and the whole bottom of the pan fell out and my Tiramasu landed half on the floor, half on the bottom of the fridge !!! !!!!

Luckily, the part on the fridge I was able to scrape up and everyone ate it and said it was amazing, it just didn't look all pretty and fancy. Oh well. At least it tasted good, right?

Care to share the recipe?

 

[disneymcgraw]

I always make magic bars but our good friend can't eat coconut so I was making him a special batch with no coconut as a surprise. Well, for some reason that batch wouldn't set. It was a big mess. He was happy that I tried at all but I still felt bad. He seemed happy to eat all the Reese's fudge that I made lol.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I made Tiramasu for the first time, in a new pan (springform) and I had a disaster happen!

It came out fine, looked great, so we took it to my mom's for the big family get-together and as I bent over to put in the fridge, I must have bumped the lever on the pan and the whole bottom of the pan fell out and my Tiramasu landed half on the floor, half on the bottom of the fridge !!! !!!!

Luckily, the part on the fridge I was able to scrape up and everyone ate it and said it was amazing, it just didn't look all pretty and fancy. Oh well. At least it tasted good, right?

I did something similar with a black forest cherry cake once. The layers slid apart and wound up in pieces on the counter top. The top layer was fine, though. I put the top aside, dumped the mess (complete with whipped cream and cherries) in a bowl with the top layer on all pretty-like. Called it trifle and it was the first to go at the church function I'd made it for!

 

[englishteacha]

I made a French toast casserole yesterday for breakfast and it was too gooey. I'm glad I didn't make it on Christmas morning. We had Pillsbury cinnamon rolls instead.

 

[EthansMom]

I tried making fudge for the first time ever. I don't think I got the sugar hot enough because it came out so grainy that it tasted like there was sand in the fudge. Yuck!

 

[pat fan]

Care to share the recipe?

6 egg yolks
3/4 c. white sugar
2/3 c. milk

Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a medium saucepan. Add milk, whisk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Boil gently for one minute. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.

1/2 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. espresso
1/4 c. brandy

Put water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, just until sugar is dissolved. Cool. Add espresso and brandy. Set aside.

3 c. mascarpone cheese
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. heavy cream
2 packages lady fingers
1 tblsp. cocoa

In large mixer, beat mascarpone, vanilla and egg mixture until light and smooth. Add heavy cream. Beat until thickened, 2-3 minutes.

Soak ladyfingers (one at a time) in brandy mixture and lay in the bottom of a 10" round, 4" deep pan, one layer deep. Spoon a 2" layer of mascarpone mixture of lady fingers. Make another layer of soaked ladyfingers and top with remaining mascarpone. Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Sprinkle with cocoa powder just before serving.

PS. if you use a springform pan...BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!

 

[Disneycrazymom]

My disaster was lima beans. I tried to do DH's mom's recipe but they turned out crunchy. Not good at all. When DH goes back to work on Monday they are outta here. He says he'll eat them but I will save him from that kindness!

 

[Goofyzgurl]

mine were yeast rolls. I did keep mis measuring the ingredients...so it's no suprise that they came out looking and feeling like baseball sized rocks!

 

[Kycha]

My failure was au gratin potatoes. This was a new recipe for me. Even after cooking this dish for an hour, the potatoes were still undercooked. I had no idea until I bit into one. I thought I had sliced the potatoes thin enough. But, I guess not. My family is so sweet though. Not one person said a thing to me. Except my niece's boyfriend(jerk and drunk). At the end of the night, the few people that were left were complimenting me on serving a great meal. I agreed that the meal was good except that my potatoes were underdone. He took that to continually criticize my potatoes. I was like "Dude! I just admitted my potatoes were underdone. I don't need to rehash it all night long." He worked at a local fancy restaurant. Thinks he is a 5 star chef now. Whatever.

The surprising hit for the night were the brussel sprouts. I thought my DH and me would be the only ones to eat them. But, surprisingly everyone ate them and raved about them. There were none left at the end of the night.

 

[Minnie]

I'm allergic to sugar but I've been craving chocolate something for quite a while. I found a recipe that used a type that is allowed and made a large batch of brownies..... What a mistake - yuck

The hit though were the black bottom cupcakes - again using the special sugar replacement. Those I will definitely make again