Your are correct. Seasonings, including spices, increase in intensity as their ratio to the other ingredients increases. In this case, reducing the liquids concentrated the spices so produce a hotter than usual dish. Dilution is the only way to reduce spiciness in foods. I'd suggest thinning out the spicy dish, making another batch of your "dish", sans spices, and mixing it with the highly spiced version.

Macaroons tend to draw moisture from anywhere they can find it (like the atmosphere) so I wonder how appealing they'll be when the reach their destination.

Pink lady
Blue Hawaii
Black Russian
Red Lotus
Cosmopolitan
Strawberry Martini
White Russian
Blue Lagoon
Red Beer

The "low" setting on some slow cookers is intended for keeping food hot enough to serve after it's fully cooked but not hot enough to fully cook the food in any reasonable amount of time. Those require "slow cooking" to be done on one of the higher settings. Only your instruction manual or a test over time can answer that question for your appliance.
I have an inexpensive but very efficient slow cooker that has only two settings. The low setting would never fully cook a roast within a 10 hour period but the high setting produces a roast that literally falls apart when poked with a fork after 8 - 9 hours. If I'm using it for a few I add the vegetables about half way through the cooking time. Good stuff .....

Looks a lot like "Sloppy Joe's"

Dear JudyDenver, there is one thing for certain. The likelihood of your hitting the bullseye on this one the first time out is extremely low. The basics of bread (flour, yeast, salt and water) are a given. But the countless things that can be added to any bread making formula, including the type of flour and the way in which the dough is handled, make your challenge a formidable task . I suspect the best you can do is start at some point that seems to make sense, maintain a very well documented note book outlining every adjustment you make (and never make more than one adjustment at a time) until you achieve your goal.
Your comment that the rolls are definitely in the "to die for" category suggests that you won't be happy with something close to what they serve so grab some flour and go for it.

I'll join hotoynoodle's club. A crushed pecan crust would be fantastic.

Churros and Chocolate coffee or Churos dipped in melted chocolate alongside a good cup of coffee.

Or try this:
Use a whisk to blend 23 ounces of AP flour, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 4 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast.
Combine with 1 1/2 cups of warm (105 degrees) water, 1 1/2 ounces olive oil, 1 clove pulverized garlic, 1 beaten egg.
Coat hands with olive oil and mix well (about 3 minutes) or use stand mixer with paddle to mix until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Knead with oiled hands 5 - 8 minutes or use dough hook of stand mixer to knead 4 - 6 minutes or until the dough pulls away form the sides of the bowl and begins to climb the dough hook.
Form into ball and place in covered oiled pan until nearly, but not completely, doubled in mass.
That should make a very sticky dough.
Coat hands with olive oil and knead briefly, folding as you knead. You may need to use a pastry scraper to reduce sticking to counter or board.
Use pastry scraper of knife to cut into 3 - 4 ounce pieces. Use palm of your hand to roll on floured surface. Place on parchment paper covered baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in warm place until nearly doubled in size (but don't let them double entirely).
Place in preheated 450 degree oven and bake until golden brown or internal temprerature reaches 200 degrees.
Remove from oven, cover with towel and allow to cool until they are just warm, the brush with garlic butter and allow to cool completely on cooling rack.

Challah is a very soft light bread and it uses no dairy. You might try working with a Challah formula and adjusting as appropriate, then forming the dough into rolls instead of a loaf. Some Challah recipes use veg. oil, others use shortening - I'd go with the shortening.

Shape them and press into rice cakes, brown slowly in non-stick pan (no oil or just a film of oil wiped onto the pan cooking surface) Makes a nice snack
Shape into squares about 1/8 inch thick on plastic wrap and put pre-cooked filling at one edge and roll tightly. Fry or steam. You can also put a layer of greens (e.g. spinach) that have been steam just until tender on plastic wrap and do the same type of thing.
Or you could simply reconstitute in a steamer; don't add more water.

Get it out the the freezer and into the refrigerator NOW...........
The length of time it will take to thaw depends on its current temperature, total weight (mass) and the temperature of the refrigerator. Put it on one of the top shelves.
Once its partially thawed (usually within 24 hours) you can cut it into smaller pieces, which will help it to thaw faster.

Try the vegan vegetarian board:

http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/89

If your tenderized bottom round is more than 1/4 inch thick, slice it with the grain so that it's 1/4 inch thick or thinner. Dredge each piece in flour, press the flour into the meat's surface, shake off excess, drip in beaten egg and the again dredge in flour (or bread crumbs if you prefer).
Once more, shake off excess flour. Let the dredged pieces of meat rest for 15 minutes before putting them into hot oil that is deep enough to come up about half way on the side of each piece. Fry until golden brown, turn and brown the other side, drain on paper towels (or similar) and serve.

Good point - slow fermentation usually produces a superior end product.

I assume you're looking for a "tried and true" dough recipe, rather than recipes that include fillings. That's probably your best bet because you can fill them (even Polish Pierogi) with just about anything.
I'm no expert at Pierogi dough but this folks apparently are:
http://www.tastingpoland.com/food/rec...

OP says " ... but consider myself a true Polock ..." so I guess it's the Polish version.

It's my "go to" lettuce for all Mexican cuisine where lettuce is included.
It shreds beautifully, the leaves fold easily, it's crisp with great flavor.

I would call them two or three days before I planned to do my final shopping and, if they haven't committed by that time, tell them I've made the final plans and I'm disappointed that they can't make it this year but, perhaps, they can make it next year. Then I'd leave it at that.
It's an insult to tell someone that their invitation is second in line; that you may show up if there's nowhere else to go. People who take advantage of the kindnesses of others with rude and contemptuous behavior needn't be tolerated. It's a pitiful set of circumstances when people feel they need friends badly enough to accept that kind of abuse.

Assuming you'll have an assortment of wines, whatever you select as appetizers you'll want an assortment of sweet, savory, spicy to compliment the various wines on your list. There was a lot of discussion on the subject in this thread:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/761458

http://www.google.com/search?client=u...

System not working very well this afternoon .....

The method you describe ensures a more even distribution of ingredients, including liquids that must be absorbed by the flour. You'll note that when mixing liquids into dry ingredients using the well method the dry ingredients are brought into the dry gradually. You could just dump in the liquids but you'd have to knead longer to avoid dry spots.

Lots of discussions on that subject:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/386834

Chocolate can be molded in anything that it won't stick to, including metal and wood. The metal molds work best because they're non-porous. If you chocolate sticks to your molds it's probably because the molds are not completely dry (there must be absolutely no moisture in the molds) or because they are not completely clean. Another reason that chocolate sticks to molds is that the molds may be too warm when the chocolate is placed in them. Also remember that your chocolate candies must be completely cooled and hard (like cold) before popping them out of the molds.
Your chocolate already has enough fat in it so there should be no reason to lubricate the molds, metal, wood or Teflon.

A mixture of cheddar cheese and honey or goat cheese and honey.

Campfire Sweet Rolls
http://www.rentalsinmichigan.com/camp...

Based on greygarious' data, increase your cookie recipe by 1 part flour (= 4 parts) leave the fat and sugar alone, balance the liquid according to specifications (I wonder why Ruhlman's ratio doesn't use liquids in cookies) add 2 eggs and baking powder to specifications. Make muffins.

While some cookies are made with a batter, most are made using a dough. Dough is, of course, heavier than batter. There are some important differences between cookie dough and cake batter, besides the density of the mix.
Although you can use AP flour for cake baking, cakes are usually made with cake flour which is much lighter than AP flour.
Cookies often use only baking soda as a leavening agent, cakes prefer baking powder.
Cakes call for less butter, less sugar and more eggs than cookies usually do.
I'd encourage you to experiment, especially in the area of quick bread or muffin batter, using cookie dough with a bit more milk and perhaps another egg and see what works.
Half the fun of cooking is trying something new and finding that tweeking it here and there produces something good to eat.
Make sure you keep good notes as you make your adjustments.

You'd probably have better luck using the Vegetarian & Vegan board:
http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/89