I usually try to make a recipe as given the first time out (unless experience tells me on a read-through that it's just not going to work), but for any cookie recipe it's pretty much given that I'm going to decrease the sugar. And quite possibly replace some of the flour with whole wheat.

Earthy-crunchy California kid, at your service... *grin*

"Yeah," I said, "especially since the recipe labeled 'biscotti' that's up on the fridge isn't actually the recipe."

It's amazing how many times that's happened to me (as the perpetrator of culinary failures). "But I followed the recipe!" "Oh, that's not the current recipe.. cut these three ingredients, double this, and change the cooking time." *sigh*

Well, in my own defense it was still my working, in-the-process-of-adaptation copy, not one I'd passed along to anybody. And since my notes were scrawled on a printout of a not-very-clearly-written recipe from an acquaintance, I didn't want to take a chance on whether he could have deciphered the mess.

People who won't share recipes make me cranky. People who deliberately mess up recipes before sharing them REALLY make me cranky. I can understand restaurants and professional cooks not wanting to share — their competitors would probably be thrilled to have the recipes — but a private cook... really, even if you do share Aunt Mabel's secret coffeecake recipe, the truth is that nobody will be able to make it like Aunt Mabel did even if they follow the recipe exactly. That's just the way cooking works. Occasionally one cooking magazine or another will do a feature on it: "We gave these three professional cooks the same recipe to follow — and look how differently the dishes came out!"

Oh, I completely understand. Most all recipes are works in progress. Or they should be. It can just be annoying to try to make food for someone who is sick who later says "what? you shouldn't have followed that, it's wrong!".

Not sharing recipes or sabotaging them is definitely out. There's enough bad food in the world already. And you're right, nobody makes it exactly the same way, because part of cooking is smelling and tasting and adjusting -- and a "pinch" is quite different for many people.