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Dec 31, 2017

Top Ten Readers' Favorite Recipes from 2017 | Countdown to 2018

Here are your Top Ten Favorite Recipes from 2017!

Top Ten Readers Favorite Recipes #TopTenRecipes

It's always fun to look back over the last year to see which recipes resonated with you. I posted 152 recipes in 2017 (phew!), and, in order of popularity, these were your favorites.
Dec 29, 2017

Thyme and Apple Cider Pisco Sour

This Thyme and Apple Cider Pisco Sour is a wonderful celebration cocktail.

Thyme and Apple Cider Pisco Sour #cocktail #pisco #piscosour

This apple cider Pisco sour is a wonderful winter cocktail. If you like whiskey sours or side car cocktails, you'll enjoy this one with thyme simple syrup, Pisco, fresh lemon juice, and boiled apple cider.
Dec 27, 2017

Shallot and Gruyère Cheese Muffins

These Shallot and Gruyère Cheese Muffins are a wonderful savory treat to serve with soup, a roast beef or steak dinner, or with a salad.

Shallot and Gruyère Cheese Muffins #muffins #shallots #gruyère #cheesemuffins

These muffins are loaded with sautéed shallots and lots of melty gruyère cheese. With a thick, cheesy batter, these are almost biscuit-like in texture.
Dec 19, 2017

Eggnog Waffles

These eggnog waffles are wonderful for Sunday breakfast or brunch. And if it makes you feel any better about enjoying the rich deliciousness of eggnog in these waffles, they are made with white whole wheat flour.

Eggnog Waffles

You can make a pile of these eggnog waffles and keep them warm in the oven to serve a crowd. You can also make them and freeze them, and then have homemade waffles ready for the toaster in the morning. And to spread out the anticipation even more, you can also make the batter up to a day in advance and keep it in the refrigerator.

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

These Noche Buena Chocolate Sandwich Cookies include the flavors of chocolate, coffee liqueur, cayenne pepper. and dulce de leche.

Noche Buena Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with dulce de leche are rich, spicy, and deeply flavored with Dutch processed cocoa. The addition of a small amount of cayenne pepper adds a subtle warmth to the cookies.
Dec 16, 2017

Champagne Babas

Babas are little yeasted pastries that resemble little chef's hats.

Champagne Babas


Babas are made with a dough enriched with butter and eggs, and then soaked in a boozy syrup (usually rum) and then topped with an apricot jam glaze.

Turkey Noodle Soup from Scratch

This turkey noodle soup from scratch is pure comfort food. Any time we roast a turkey, especially around the holidays, we save the carcass to make the broth for this turkey soup.

Turkey Noodle Soup from Scratch



Making homemade turkey soup after Thanksgiving or Christmas is probably the biggest food tradition that Mr. Kitchen and I share. He is a big fan of soup of any kind, so, years ago, when someone told him that you could make homemade turkey soup from the leftover carcass, he decided to take on making turkey soup from scratch.

Dec 15, 2017

Vietnamese-Style Pan Fried Halibut with Lemongrass and Nước Chấm Dipping Sauce

This Vietnamese-style pan fried halibut with lemongrass is so fresh and flavorful, and the lemongrass adds such a wonderful citrusy fragrance to the dish.

Vietnamese-Style Pan Fried Halibut with Lemongrass and Nước Chấm Dipping Sauce

This pan fried halibut with lemongrass is an adaptation of a fish dish common in Vietnamese cooking, called Cá Chiên Xã. You can use any firm fish, such as mackerel, sea bass, cod, rockfish, or catfish. I just happened to have a gorgeous Alaskan halibut filet that worked beautifully with this recipe.
Dec 12, 2017

Whole Wheat Santa Lucia Buns

These Santa Lucia Buns are a whole wheat version of a traditional Swedish holiday bread.

Whole Wheat Santa Lucia Buns

This time last year, I posted a wonderful traditional Santa Lucia buns recipe, which included saffron, currants, and Swedish pearl sugar. Be sure to visit the post to find out more about the holiday.
Dec 11, 2017

Chocolate Mint Torte

This Chocolate Mint Torte recipe takes a tasty chocolate sponge cake and fills it with a delicious mint cream mousse and layers of chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Mint Torte

Making this chocolate mint torte was definitely an exercise in flexing new baking muscles for me.
Dec 9, 2017

Fried Sausages and Apples from The Hamilton Cookbook

 These Fried Sausages and Apples are from the well-researched book The Hamilton Cookbook by my friend Laura Kumin of the blog, Mother Would Know.

Fried Sausages and Apples from The Hamilton Cookbook

When Laura asked if I would be willing to review her new book, I jumped at the chance.
Dec 8, 2017

Almond-Spice Christmas Wreath Cookies

These Almond-Spice Christmas Wreath Cookies are pretty easy to make, even if they do look fancy.

Almond-Spice Christmas Wreath Cookies

These almond-spice Christmas wreath cookies would be great to make with kids who are interested in baking. You'd just need to have double the amount of maraschino cherries on hand so they could sneak a few during the decorating phase.
Dec 6, 2017

Eggnog Cheesecake

This Eggnog Cheesecake is the smoothest and creamiest cheesecake I've ever eaten. It's dense, moist, rich, and delicious.


Egg Nog Cheesecake #eggnog #cheesecake


This eggnog cheesecake recipe is a tasty way to use up leftover eggnog, although, after trying this cheesecake, you may just find yourself buying or making eggnog just to bake this cheesecake.

Dec 5, 2017

Foolproof Holiday Cookies

These Foolproof Holiday Cookies are perfect for decorating for Christmas, birthdays, or any occasion!

Foolproof Holiday Cookies #cookies #christmascookies

I love that these Foolproof Holiday Cookies are so easy to cut and bake, yet they taste delicious. They can be decorated with just a glaze and some sprinkles, or you can go all fancy with royal icing.
Dec 4, 2017

Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies

These Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies are totally fun to make, and they are so "pepperminty!"

Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies

These peppermint candy cane cookies are flavored with both peppermint and vanilla extracts, which give them a wonderful flavor and aroma.