That's... Pinteresting

I love Pinterest.

I have tried many ideas/recipes pinned neatly on my well-organized boards, and feel that, in general, it has made my quest for helpful and creative ideas easier.  It almost replaces my old-fashioned filing drawer full of magazine clippings, handouts, and guidebooks.  Almost.

I have discovered, however, through trial and error, that some pins are a bit misleading.

Take the Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins knock-off of Whole Foods Chocolate Chunk VitaTop Muffins (which I've never seen or tasted) pin from here.

The picture looks like this:

This is what mine looked like (sans chocolate chips):

Since there was such a discrepancy between the two, I did some further research online and found two other sites with the same recipe, 

here, 

and here.

They looked a bit more like mine.

And, let's be truthful, not likely to get many repins, if you know what I mean.

There were also at least a dozen sites using the very same misleading first picture from Pinterest.

Conclusion

I don't believe the first picture is a true depiction of the recipe for the following reasons:

1.  The muffins turn out to be much darker with all that cocoa and very little flour

2.  The muffins are much more dense and obviously don't rise to a beautiful rounded top

For whatever reason, I have had little success with recipes from Pinterest.  That may be why.  

Deceptive pictures.

Here are a few links to things I've tried with success:

Overnight Oats
(Quick and easy to grab for breakfast, but I only use a teaspoon of chia seeds)

Bacon-wrapped Cream Cheese Jalapeno Bites
(They aren't really beautiful - like the accurate picture on the link - but they are yum-o.  Unless your peppers are super HOT)

Scooter's Spaghetti
(The whole family gave it a thumbs-up)

Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken

(I made it with boneless, skinless breasts -- it would be better with bone-in skin-on chicken pieces)

Peanut Butter Pie

(I made in half-pint wide-mouth mason jars, using half the amount of filling suggested for each jar - they are super rich, but YUMMY)

Cheesecake in a Jar

(rivals Cheesecake Factory in my opinion)

and Blueberry, Caramel, and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

(I think I've already shared this recipe - I use dried cherries and Bakers White Chocolate Bar rather than white chocolate chips, which never really melt - have you noticed?)

Like I mentioned, though, I have had many, MANY failures.  I can comfortably say I've had at least twice as many failures as I've had successes.

I still love Pinterest, though, and was highly annoyed when my phone lost it's ability to pin for a few days (especially during the long swim meet on Saturday).

I cautiously proceed.