It is CRAZZZZYYYY to think that 2014 is essentially over – like done and gone and forever just a memory. I feel like so much has happened (and changed!) in the past year, and looking back on it all brings me a mix of emotions: gratefulness, joy, stress, relief, confusion, awe, a little bit of sadness, and yet so much happiness. I think it’s fun to take a trip down memory lane and look at all the recipes from the year too, because there’s always a few favorites that stand out from the rest and bring back the kind of vivid memories that only food can bring. SO, here’s a look at your top ten recipe favorites as readers, as well as my top favorites as blogger/eater. Here’s to hoping you’ll find something totally yummy to try in 2015!
#10: Easy Nutella Crêpes – These will forever be a favorite of mine, so I love knowing that this post was a hit! Everyone has their weekend breakfast splurge, the thing you make on a relaxing morning when time isn’t an issue, and for us that’s these crêpes. The recipe is quick and simple but still churns out some gorgeously thin and delicate crêpes – the kind that you shamelessly slather with Nutella and call breakfast at its best.
#9: Double Chocolate, Almond, and Coconut Granola – If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ve probably already caught onto the fact that I’m a ridiculously huge chocolate lover. Anytime I can incorporate dark chocolate into a recipe AND call it healthy, it makes me way too excited. This granola is one of my favorite ways to do that; it’s full of crunchy clumps of oats, almonds, and coconut, plussss chunks of extra-dark chocolate in every bite. ← Favorite secretly-not-guilty breakfast treat right here.
#8: Creamy Triple Chocolate Mocha – THIS MOCHA. You know that whole thing I said about being a chocolate lover? Well clearly, when you combine 3 kinds of chocolate with coffee and whipped cream, you’ve made me the happiest person on earth. Creamy, hot-chocolatey, coffee goodness has never been more tempting.
#7: Sourdough English Muffins – At one point (when I was capable of maintaining a regular schedule like a normal person), I had a sourdough starter that I used to make perfectly airy San Francisco-style sourdough and fluffy english muffins. I’d argue that if there’s any way to make a classic english muffin better, it’s sourdough-ifying it, and these are proof of that.
#6: DIY Almond Butter {with Vanilla Bean & Sea Salt} – I love that you guys love your DIY recipes. I’m not sure how vanilla beans and a little bit of sea salt make ground up almonds taste just perfectly sweet and so so good, but they do. This is the perfect nut butter for snacking – easy to make with just a few ingredients, and so much healthier than a lot of the processed store-bought alternatives.
#5: Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Balsamic Reduction – Once upon a time a reader introduced me to bacon-wrapped dates, and suddenly the same girl who stuck her nose up at bacon was cooking it, eating it, and ordering it in meals at restaurants. I completely blame this ridiculously simple appetizer that combines smoky bacon with sweet dates and melty mozzarella. If you haven’t tried this combo yet, it probably sounds really strange, but I promise it just works!
#4: DIY Irish Cream {Homemade Bailey’s} – Best DIY recipe EVER. Turns out that creamy, chocolatey, boozy Irish Cream is beyond easy to make (like 5 minutes easy!). And as if I wasn’t excited enough about the fact that I can make my own Irish Cream, I’m still squealing at the fact that this recipe was published in the Winter 2014 issue of the oh-so-gorgeous Perk Magazine. :)
#3: Ultimate Double Chocolate Muffins – The truth is I’m a bit of a chocolate snob, in that anything double-chocolate better be as rich and chocolatey as possible for me to appreciate it. It took me soooo many attempts to come up with the perfect double chocolate muffin – one that’s moist, tender, and absolutely exploding with deep dark chocolate flavor – but that’s exactly what these are. They’re definitely bordering on dessert-for-breakfast, but I say if you’re going to go for the 10AM chocolate, do it right!
#2: Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting – I’m obsessed with the cuteness of these cupcakes. The rose cake I made a while back has always been a pretty big hit, and making the frosting roses for these cupcakes is even easier. Plus, the cupcakes themselves have that perfect deep chocolate flavor, and the frosting is out. of. this. world. Buttery cream cheese frosting WITH sweet roasted strawberry juice?? So good.
#1: Healthy Banana Coconut Chocolate Chunk Muffins – So these kind of blew up after I posted them, which just goes to show me that you guys love your healthy chocolate recipes as much as I do. These are everything I dream of a healthy muffin being – gluten-free, added-sugar-free, dairy-free, texturific, loaded with gooey bits of bittersweet chocolate, and just so very perfect.
I should mention that these are in no particular order, because choosing just 10 is hard enough for me!
Sweet Potato Rolls – Soft, fluffy, warm-from-the-oven homemade bread rolls will forever be one of my favorite things in the world. If you ask me, THIS is comfort food. The sweet potato in these rolls just makes them extra soft, pillowy, and all-out dreamy. ♡
DIY Candied Pecans – I thought candied walnuts were the best thing ever until I made candied pecans, which it turns out are even more dangerously addicting. There’s a million uses for these – like zesting up salads and adding a sweet crunch to biscotti – but you honestly have to have some serious self-control to make them last long enough for that!
The 3-2-1 Margarita – If you know me you know that I loooooove my margaritas, and time and time again I see that making them yourself is the best way to go. This is how I always do it and it couldn’t be easier; three ingredients in three consecutive amounts for the perfect on-the-rocks, strong, tart margarita that packs a punch.
Whole Wheat Mixed Berry Loaf Cake – Quick breads seem like such an ordinary thing that wouldn’t usually make it to my list of absolute favorites from the year, but this loaf cake still stands out in my mind months later as one of the very best things I whipped up this year. It’s so completely soft and tender, packed with sweet vanilla flavor in three forms, studded with a mix of juicy roasted berries, and 100% whole wheat. WIN.
Strawberry Apple Crumble – I’ve always been a big fan of crumbles because they’re so easy to put together, loaded with that crunchy-sweet crumb topping, and bursting with juicy bites of seasonal fruit. This was one of those spur-of-the-moment crumbles – the kind where you just throw in a couple pounds of fruit and hope for the best – and it couldn’t have turned out better. ← Best crumble I’ve had yet.
Caramel Latte Ice Cream – Ice cream never fails to make it to the top of my favorites list year after year. Reallllly good, creamy, flavor-packed ice cream is a beautiful thing that I would argue most people are missing out on. It always blows my mind how amazing homemade ice cream can be, even in the most unexpected of flavors, but this is one I KNEW would be a winner from the start. Think of the creamiest sweet caramel latte you’ve ever had and turn it into silky-smooth ice cream. That’s this.
Mint Oreo Ice Cream – This was the only other new ice cream recipe I tried this year, and once again a huge favorite. A blend of fresh mint and peppermint extract make it perfectly cool and refreshing, and because crushed up oreos basically belong in mint ice cream, there’s lots of that going on here too.
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies – Best chocolate chip cookies ever – that’s all. They’re soft, chewy, puffy, buttery, complex, and loaded with chunks of ooey-gooey chocolate like you wouldn’t believe.
Chocolate-Dipped Caramel Chocolate Chip Biscotti – Towards the end of this year I fell back in love with biscotti and realized how much I had been missing it by neglecting it for so long. These biscotti were definitely one of my all-time favorite breakfasts of the year – the kind that I didn’t mind repeating day after day because they were just that good. They’re perfectly crunchy, studded with caramel-filled chocolate chips, and dipped in dark chocolate just to be over-the-top in the best way possible.
Classic Gingerbread Man Cookies – Never did I think a gingerbread recipe would become one of my favorites of the year, but these cookies showed me just how good gingerbread can be when it’s done right. They’re soft in texture but intense in flavor with *just* the right mix of spices to make things interesting. AND they’re super cute, which never hurts. ;)
Last but not least, I just want to thank every one of you for tagging along this year, reading posts, trying recipes, leaving comments, and in general making me feel like the most fortunate person for being able to do what I love every day and share it with like-minded souls. You guys are all awesome and your support means everything to me.
Happy 2015!
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