Best of 2016

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Who’s ready to reflect on a year’s worth of eating?! This list encompasses the top ten recipes of 2016 as determined by readers. As a bonus I added my own favorites as well!

Another year has past and it’s time to take a look back on all the food we’ve shared together. I hope you found it to be as delicious as I did. As usual I have compiled a list of the top 10 most viewed recipes on The Spiffy Cookie, followed by my own list of those that didn’t make the cut that I thought deserved to be there (and as usual had a hard time cutting down to just 10). If you haven’t tried the recipes on either list yet, what the heck are you waiting for?!

I actually have one more recipe post left for 2016, but it’s from a cookbook (giveaway alert) so I shall not claim it, as much as Id like to cause it’s pretty awesome! I also did the Instagram #2016bestnine which you can see by clicking HERE.

BEST OF 2016 – READER FAVORITES

10. No-Bake Patriotic Dessert Lasagna – It should come as no surprise that the top ten includes one of my latest no-bake dessert lasagnas. Ever since discovering the original (to me) peanut butter and chocolate version I’ve been on a mission to create every other flavor under the sun (and maybe even by moonlight). I actually made two others this year including s’smores (I did a single serving in the past) and dark chocolate pistachio (aka monster mash).

9. Baked Penne with Slow Cooker Bolognese (also one of my favorites) – This may be the best pasta dish of the year and yes it involves making a slow cooker bolognese which then gets baked with layers of penne and cheese. And since you’ll have plenty of sauce leftover, might I suggest adding meatballs and serving it over bucatini, topped off with gooey burrata? Get some!

8. S’mores Lucky 7-Layer Bars – St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays to bake for – probably because it gets so little love beyond the traditional dishes, making the creative possibilities endless. These 7-layer bars are more than just magical, they are lucky! With the addition of Lucky Charms cereal as one layer. And while we did just finish off all the Christmas baking, stay tuned, because you won’t have to wait long for new St. Patrick’s Day recipes.

7. Apple Fritter Bread – Everything you love about apple fritters, but without the mess off a hot vat of oil to fry them in. What’s not to love? This pull-apart bread is layered with apples and topped with glaze. Just make sure you make this for brunch with friends or family as it’s quite a lot to go around!

6. Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Popsicles – This might be one of my favorite pictures of the year too, that balsamic reduction on top ::swoon::! But seriously, I was excited that you guys loved these as much as I did. These were inspired by a similar ice cream recipe. The strawberries themselves with roasted along with some balsamic (hence the name), pureed and frozen. Super simple and super delicious.

5. Nutella Stuffed Biscotti – When you take regular everyday biscotti dough and fold a layer of Nutella in the middle, a star is born! You’ll gobble them right up but in case you happen to have any leftover, these babies were also used to make my very first homemade zabaglione triffles which are to die for!

4. Cast Iron Root Beer Baked Beans – This is what all baked beans should look like. Not only do I know there’s root beer in there, but that bacon on top! I’m not surprised these showed up in the #4 spot. But seeing them makes me dream of summer cookouts again. Is winter over yet?

3. Chewy Mojito Sugar Cookies (another favorite of mine) – Love mojitos? Well how about you have one and eat it too, because now you can in the form of a sugar cookie! These thin but chewy cookies are infused with mint, lime, and a bit of rum extract to remind you of a mojito. P.S. I’m noticing a trend, that half of these recipes are great in the summertime.

2. Eggs Benedict Breakfast Pizza with Spiralized Potato Crust – I spiralized potatoes and make a crust for a breakfast pizza, because I can and it was delicious! And clearly I was not mistaken, coming in at #2. Maybe I should take a hint and make some more spiralized recipes. I do it more often that this blog would lead you to believe.

1. Butterfinger Brownie Banana Bread – And of course, the #1 recipe is an epic combo of awesomeness, combining butterfinger, brownies, and banana bread all into one! This was the most dense banana bread I’ve ever had, and it’s worth every bite. I literally made banana bread using a box of brownie mix (I’ve been known to use cake mix in the past 1 / 2) and mixed chopped butterfinger right in there and sprinkled some on top too.

BEST OF 2016 – MY FAVORITES

(that didn’t already make your list)

10. Slow Cooker White Bean Chicken Chili with Hominy – While I shared a white chicken chili recipe years ago, this was an updated version made in the slow cooker and with the addition of hominy. This is one of those recipes I keep coming back to every year.

9. Baked Apple French Toast with Streusel Topping – Between overnight casseroles and overnight French toast, brunch is a whole lot easier. I love preparing everything the night before, refrigerating, and then popping it in the oven in the morning. Heck I love it so much I’ve already made different varieties of both. But my favorite was this one with apples, which made an appearance at our LOTR party.

8. Beef Pot Pie with Herbed Biscuits – I had never had pot pie with beef before, nor had I had it topped with biscuits, but let me tell you, it’s a total game changer. Those biscuits along could sustain me for dinner (it was tempting but then there’d be none let for the rest of the pot pie).

7. Baked Strawberry-Ginger Glazed Doughnuts – Ever since discovering blueberry glazed doughnuts I’ve been a fiend. And then I tried making a strawberry version and fell in love all over again, this time with the addition of some ginger and some reduced guilt provided by baking instead of frying.

6. Caramelized White Chocolate Pistachio Ice Cream – When trying to narrow down my list, Bob would have had me nix this one because he didn’t really like the rosewater that was added but every single other person (myself included) thought it was magical so here it stays as the best ice cream I made in 2016!

5. Salted Caramel Double Chocolate Stout Cookies – I told you St. Patrick’s Day is awesome! These cookies kind of blew me away and I may need to make them again this year so long as I can find those caramel baking chips again. I might have a bag stashed away somewhere come to think of it…

4. Lemon-Lime Pistachio Bars – My friend Haley actually made these so I cannot take credit, but I did take the photos and devoured all that she gave me O:-). Haley claims she doesn’t know “the baking things” but when she puts her mind to it she comes up with great alterations to an otherwise traditional recipe.

3. Orange-Lavender White Chocolate Chip Cookies – Honestly, this needs to be a tie along with my Lemon-Rosemary White Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are almost the same cookie, but one with orange and lavender, while the other is lemon and rosemary. The only reason I put the orange one first it because it was the more daring and therefore excitingly successful version. They taste like Froot Loops, I swear!

2. Homemade Colombian Patacones – It seems like every year one of my top 10 recipes involves a very long ingredient list, and these patacones certainly ave that! While the patacones themselves are simple (fry plantain, flatten, fry again), it’s the toppings that are key. Sure you don’t have to have them all but go big or go home! Especially when Juan and Julieta’s moms makes them for you ;-).

1. Blackberry-Sage Pie Bars – Going along with my experimentation with herbs in baked goods are these bars, which were my greatest success of the year! I might still fantasize about these bars and am salivating just thinking about them right now. Who’s got a napkin?