My grandmother is so crafty. At Christmas she was going to make some caramel fudge, but it failed, so she saved it in the fridge (or freezer, not sure which) and used it to make a pound cake and WOW was it good! I told her to make another caramel mistake!

My cousin and I have made Christmas Candy for 19 years now. LOTS of mistakes (I won't mention the "soured" peanut butter" UGH!) But, the BEST was the year that the divinity wouldn't set up. Wasn't raining, but, I guess there was too much humidity in the air. Anyway, I suggested that we use IT to make up some more fudge. We made peanut butter fudge with it and it was THE BEST in the 19 years of candy making. Just the same as Marshmallow Creme, but, creamier! YUM!

Beth in KY

My best mistake was taking Wilton 1! I have my hands into EVERY crafting thing out there! My first love is and always will be sewing, but I'm so hooked on decorating now I haven't looked at my machine in months! And this forum is NOT an AA meeting to help, it's a CC meeting to suck us in more! I love this site, love all of you for all your help in so many areas that I've had questions! Long live my big mistake!

A lifetime ago, I poured my cake batter into the pans and THEN realized that I had greased the pans but not floured them, which was unheard of "in my day"! For whatever reason, I decided to bake them anyway. Those cakes rose higher than any cake I'd ever made. There was no "flour film" on the sides/bottom, making it easier to ice.

That was over 25 years ago ...... no flour has ever touched my baking pans since.

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When I was a kid, we were poorer than dirt and my mom was a genius for making meals out of nothing. One day she heated up some canned tomato juice and made homemade dumplings to put in them (our version of "tomato dumpling"). When she added the pepper, the lid fell off and the whole can of pepper went into the pan! It was SO hot and spicy, but when you're poorer than dirt, you eat what's available! So we ate it ..... and loved it! Whenever she made it after that, we made her put too much pepper in it! It took lots of milk to get thru this meal, but it became a family favorite!

Anyone remember the "Old Fashioned" Chocolate Fudge that you cooked to soft ball stage? Remember when the you over, or under cooked it, or you didn't hold your mouth right and it didn't "set up"? YUM!! Take a spoon and dip it right out of the pan!

Indydebi: Those are some of MY family mistakes and aren't they some of the BEST memories?

Beth in KY

Trying to make chocolate mmf, I added dutch processed cocoa to the melted marshmallows and it turned black....not brown black...black! It wasnt what I was going for at the time, but a great mistake overall!

Talking about things you had as a child reminded me of potato candy. I had never heard of it and one day a lady in my class brought it for all us kids as she called us. It was so good! If you've never had any you must try some, it is so sweet, kinda like fudge.

okay...I'm not sure this one qualifies under "best" but I got the BEST laugh...

One Thanksgiving, my younger brother was visiting me. "Boy, howdy! I sure would love some of that there sweet potato pie!" So, I cut him a large slice of it.

Keep in mind, this is the day of all days EVERYONE takes extra steps to ensure everything is perfect.

I step back to accept his gestures of appreciation...you know, the mmmmms and oooooooooohs and eyes rolling and the uh huhs.

Instead I got eyes popping and spewing. I almost peed my pants....it was at that very moment I realized I forgot to put sugar in it. I ain't lying, that was perfect, I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face. I am laughing so hard now just remembering.

I know I got others but that was the first thing that came to mind.

My mother has a fabulous chocolate chip recipe. One time I was making it and I accidently put too much shortening in it. I baked it anyway (I've always been on a budget and you don't waste ANYTHING) and OMG. They turned out so good! My mother's cookies were fluffy and soft but always a little dry.. the extre 1/4 cup of Crisco really made them more flavorful and chewy, but it didn't compromise the fluffiness. My fiance LOVES my chocolate chip cookies, hehe. Best mistake ever!

A local 19th century grain mill has been turned into a beautiful county park. The mill is functioning and they sell stone ground flours and meals. Which is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with my mistake? They package all of the products in the same heavy paper sacks with only a stamped designation on each sack identifying it as corn meal rye flour etc.

Since their product contains no preservatives, I store it in the freezer. One Sunday I had company for dinner and intended to serve corn bread. My company was with me in the kitchen while I was making the batter, and I was paying more attention to the conversation than to my cooking. Just before pouring the batter into the baking pan, I looked down and discovered a brown batter...? I had grabbed the rye four sack rather than the corn meal. It was good for much laughter and was actually very tasty. A rye surprise!

was making ganache for the first time for a surprise birthday party for my mom. I whipped the cream, then added the chocolate. not at all how I wanted it to look. frosted cake anyway and gave it to a neighbor as I did not know what to do with it. She said it would call her in the middle night. she did not share it with anyone, husband or child. she still talks about my messed up cake and askes when I am going to do it again.