2012 – A Year in Review

After 155 posts and one year of blogging under my belt, I’m feeling pretty good.  I am proud of what I have put out and most importantly I am impressed by my own improvement.  While I was compiling the Recipe Index I was able to look at all the different recipes I have made this past year.  The following is a list of overall favorites, my personal favorites from each category, and the top 5 posts of the year.

Overall Winners:

• Best Photo – Apple Pie Cheesecakes – Every time I see this picture I am happy.  I love the composition, the lighting, and the level of detail.  Photography is far and away my greatest struggle and it makes me feel good when I get it right. (Picture up top)
• Best thing eaten all year from the blog – Mint Fudge Ice Cream with Brownie Pieces – Hands down the best thing I made and ate all year.  Truth.
• Best thing Ruth ate all year from the blog – Cookie Crazy Cupcakes – Interesting choice, I made them for my own birthday and found them a little too rich, glad Ruth liked them so much.

Best thing Andrea ate all year from the blog – Chocolate Bourbon Ice Cream – So much bourbon and so much chocolate, how can you go wrong?Categorically Speaking:

• Beverage – Apple Cider Sangria (most drinkable) and Cake Batter Martinis (most fun) – With 11 boozy beverages, it was hard to choose just one.

• Breakfast – Baked Pumpkin Donuts – I never thought I would make donuts at home because I’m not into frying things, but baked donuts, and pumpkin no less, it’s a winner.
• Brownies/Bars – Red Velvet Brownie S’more Bars – After 13 bar recipes I finally learned to cut them the next day for clean, even lines.
• Cakes – Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake – Only 4  cakes made the list, probably because they are a lot of work, this cake was the most work of all.
• Cookies – Homemade Tagalongs – There were 34 cookies to choose from, including 6 chocolate chip cookie recipes, making this a tough category.  The homemade version of tagalongs were way better than the Girl Scouts’, sorry ladies.
• Cupcakes (best tasting) – Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream – With 46 recipes for cupcakes, this was by far the biggest category, so I made three winners.  These cupcakes with incredibly rich and delightful.
• Cupcakes (prettiest) – Bellini Cupcakes – Using gumpaste added an elegant touch to the cupcakes.
• Cupcakes (most fun) – Chocolate Beet Cupcakes – The pink color is gorgeous and it was a blast letting people guess the secret ingredient.
• Dessert – Brownie Sundae – There were only 4 dessert recipes, it was kind of easy to make a choice.  How do you make the best ice cream ever better?  Add more brownie and hot fudge.
• Ice Cream – Peach Sorbet – Considering I didn’t buy an ice cream maker until July, 7 recipes for ice cream seems pretty good.  Since the mint ice cream was already used, I wanted to choose a different recipe.  This peach was a surprise favorite, completely rich, creamy, sweet, and fresh.
• Miscellaneous – Marshmallows – There were 4 miscellaneous recipes on the blog this year and marshmallows were far and away the best.  I always thought homemade marshmallows were ridiculous, but now I get it, they are beyond delicious.
• Pies – Crack Pie – With only 5 pie recipes, it was difficult to make a decision.  Crack may be whack, but this pie is amazing.
• Savory – French Onion Soup – A girl needs to stop eating butter every once and awhile and these 13 recipes prove that.  Great soup recipe.
• Sweet Treats – Margarita Whoopie Pies – The only boozy bake good to make the list, out of 4 sweet treats this was my favorite because of its fresh flavor.

Most popular – Top 5 posts according to views, almost all cupcakes, hmmmm…..

1. 50 Shade of Grey Cupcakes – Naming anything after the popular books is guaranteed to bring visitors.  This is a great cupcake as a modified slutty brownie.
2. Man Cupcakes – Any combination of bacon, cinnamon, and maple is sure to bring all the men and women around.
3. White Russian Cupcakes – These cupcakes look sweet, but they pack a boozy punch.  This was a popular pin on Pinterest.
4. Vanilla Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting – This one surprised me, but I guess a lot of people are searching for this type of recipe.
5. Cake Decorating 2 Final Cake - As guess a Wilton decorating class also brings a lot of hits to the blog.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the recipes and looking at the pictures, I’ve certainly enjoyed baking everything!  Here’s to 2013 with even more blogging success.

Leave a comment – What was your favorite from the year?