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Dec 30, 2015

Your Top 10 Favorite Recipes for 2015

Thank you to everyone who visited this little food space this year. Truly, thank you so much. It means a lot to me that you drop by and check out what's going on over here. Of the 160 posts this year, these were the ones that, you, my favorite readers, visited the most. Here are the top 10 favorite recipes of 2015, plus two posts that don't include recipes.

Top Ten Reader Favorites for Karen's Kitchen Stories
Dec 28, 2015

Savory Corn Muffins

Savory Corn Muffins

These savory corn muffins are airy and moist, and full of cornbread flavor. What's wonderful about these muffins is that they have all of the moistness and rise of a sweet muffin along with the savoriness of corn bread.
Dec 26, 2015

Caramel Custard Tart with Sliced Almonds and Pumpkin Seeds

Caramel Custard Tart with Sliced Almonds and Pumpkin Seeds

This Caramel Custard Tart with Sliced Almonds and Pumpkin Seeds is so completely decadent and rich. It can also be quite the showstopper with its deep caramel color and the toasted nuts and seeds. I used toasted and salted pumpkin seeds in this tart to compliment the sweet caramel, which turned out to be a great choice. 
Dec 23, 2015

Cranberry, Walnut, and Pecan Rye Bread

Cranberry, Walnut, and Pecan Rye Bread

This cranberry, walnut, and pecan rye bread will make your house smell amazing while it is baking. It's the combination of the the toasted walnuts and pecans, plus, naturally, the smell of baking bread.

It's delicious with goat cheese or Boursin and, of course, it's wonderful just toasted and buttered.
Dec 21, 2015

Barbecue Pork and Shrimp Egg Rolls

Barbecue Pork and Shrimp Egg Rolls

Pork and Shrimp Egg Rolls are such a quintessential Chinese take-out appetizer. They are also one of my favorite comfort foods.

As Christmas approaches, I thought it might be fun to attempt these. Why you ask?
Dec 17, 2015

Salmon Rillettes for the Feast of the Seven Fishes

Salmon Rillettes for the Feast of the Seven Fishes

This Salmon Rillettes spread is a totally delicious mixture of poached salmon, peppery smoked salmon, a lot of spiciness, and a little butter.

This is the perfect first course for the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
Dec 16, 2015

Anadama Bread with Sesame, Flax, and Poppy Seeds | Sweet Corny Bread

Anadama Bread with Sesame, Flax, and Poppy Seeds | Sweet Corny Bread

The first time I made Anadama Bread was five years ago. This was when I first started baking bread and was baking my way through Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. Since then, I've made a lot of bread. In fact, my friend Sally of Bewitching Kitchen counted the number of bread recipes I have on my index and came up with 247 (and growing). Yikes!!! That's a lot of loaves between my first Anadama Bread and this one.
Dec 15, 2015

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

chocolate almond biscotti

These Chocolate Almond Biscotti are a little more tender than the typical biscotti. They are crunchy, but they are tasty on their own, without the required dunking in coffee or wine. Kids actually like these!
Dec 12, 2015

Stained Glass Christmas Cookies with a Hard Candy Center

Welcome to Day 6 of Christmas Week. This year we have over 35 bloggers sharing festive sweet recipes for the event.

Stained Glass Christmas Cookies with a Hard Candy Center

I've always wanted try making Stained Glass Cookies.

Stained Glass Cookies? They are cookies with brightly colored see-through hard candy in the middle. If you poke a hole through one side of them, you can actually hang them as Christmas decorations.
Dec 11, 2015

Cranberry Sourdough Country Bread

Cranberry Sourdough Country Bread

This Cranberry Sourdough Bread is soft and moist on the inside with a dark crunchy crust. It is delicious toasted and buttered, and is great for turkey sandwiches (maybe with a schmear of stuffing and turkey gravy!). I also love it for apple and grilled cheddar cheese sandwiches.
Dec 9, 2015

Chewy Sugar Cookies for Santa

Welcome to Day 3 of Christmas Week. A huge group of talented bloggers joined forces to bring you some holiday cheer. We hope you love all the festive recipes we're offering up this week. Be sure to enter the giveaway to win some amazing prizes.

Chewy Sugar Cookies for Santa

Do you like your sugar cookies crispy or chewy? I like both, but when I think of the traditional sugar cookie, I always think "chewy" and coated in sparkling sugar.
Dec 8, 2015

Onion Bagels

Onion Bagels

How would you like to have freshly baked bagels on a Saturday or Sunday morning without heading out to the bagel shop? Well, you can.

Yes, you'll have to get up about two hours earlier than everyone else, but you will have amazingly fresh bagels, making it totally worth it.
Dec 7, 2015

Molasses Ginger Cookies with Fresh Ginger

These molasses and ginger cookies are so perfect for the holidays. The cookies are soft and chewy, and the fresh ginger adds a lovely warmth... perfect for Christmas giving.


Molasses Ginger Cookies with Fresh Ginger, Vietnamese Cinnamon, and Sparkling Sugar


I took about three dozen of these to the office, and they quickly disappeared, pretty much faster than anything else I've ever taken to work before.

Dec 4, 2015

Pain de Mie - Pullman Bread

Pain de Mie - Pullman Bread

Baking a Pain de Mie loaf has been on my list of breads to make for quite a while. In fact, I bought the Pullman pan a few months ago, and it has been taunting me from the cupboard.
Dec 1, 2015

Pecan Kringle

Danish Pecan Kringle

This Pecan Kringle is the perfect breakfast treat for Christmas morning.. or any morning! The pecans in the filling are toasty and flavored with buttery cinnamon and brown sugar.