I did one of these “top posts” roundups last year and it was really fun for me to see what was the most popular with all of you on the interwebs. As 2015 drew to a close, I was highly anticipating this moment so I could see what truly came out on top. I’m a numbers and charts kind of person, so I love looking at stats and data and all that stuff. Some highlights in my mind were the super fun Feast of St. Pizza post (where myself and a bunch of friends visited 10 pizza places in one day in my hometown of Lebanon, PA), talking about my wedding (and sharing my wedding cake recipe), plus my honeymoon (parts one and two, which included a recipe for the amazing kouign amann pastry from France), and let’s not forget about the #virtualpumpkinparty (more on that below). 

Aside from those posts, this year was exciting for me in blogging terms because I attended my first ever blogging conference in Chicago, and I met a handful of blog friends in real life: I made waffles with Kelsey from Appeasing a Food Geek, hung out with Renee from Will Frolic for Food in Charlottesville, VA, and I went to Boston with Abby from The Frosted Vegan and Liz from Floating Kitchen. The food blogging world is a magical place! So without further ado, here are the 6 blog posts from 2015 that rose to the top:

#1

Brownie Tiramisu Trifle – This post was part of a virtual baby shower for the lovely Emily from The Pig and Quill. It’s an easy (but exciting) dessert recipe that will easily feed a crowd, so it’s obviously perfect for something like a baby shower. This one was a huge hit at my office, which is always a tell-tale sign of a good recipe. Congrats again to Emily and her little “piglet,” who’s totally adorable and you should stalk her on Emily’s Instagram account.

#2

Pumpkin Ginger Cookies with a Vanilla Glaze + A Pumpkin Party – THE VIRTUAL PUMPKIN PARTY!!!! This was the virtual food party to end all virtual food parties: Over 70 bloggers were crazy enough to join me in sharing all sorts of pumpkin recipes, both sweet and savory and everything in between. I expect next year’s to be even more out of control, so if you want to join in you can sign up using this form. I was super proud of this recipe because I experimented with it on and off for about a year, and it turned into a fantastic cookie recipe. My coworker’s wife just told me at our holiday party how much she loved the one her husband brought home for her to try back in October. I could probably eat this cookie every day and never tire of it.

#3

Orange-Ginger Salmon Packets with Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes and Kale – This recipe was commissioned by my friend Shannon, and it’s become one of my favorites on the site. It’s flavorful, easy, and perfect for a weeknight. You can play around with different vegetables in there with the salmon, but I’m particularly fond of the combo I included in the recipe. You should put this one in your weekly rotation RIGHT NOW.

#4

Golden Milk Cake – I love this post so much. It’s one of my favorite illustrations I’ve ever done, and it was one of the first photo shoots I did by myself (since taking over for Robert this year) where I was truly happy with the results. This one is my grandmother’s recipe for the classic “hot milk cake,” and it was kind of a birthday/Father’s Day post. I also wrote about this cake for Food52’s Heirloom Recipes column this year.

#5

My Family Tree & Grandmom’s Coleslaw – This one features another heirloom family recipe from my OTHER grandma (aka Grandmom). It’s a very personal post that focuses on my family tree, which was researched by Melisa from Honeybee Genealogy. I talk a lot about how it’s really no surprise that I ended up as an artist, and I share my grandma’s delicious, classic recipe for coleslaw. For some reason this one became quite popular on Google, and it started getting hits every day from people searching for “family tree.”

#6

My Wedding & Our Amazing Cake – This post was a beast to write and it’s become a wonderful keepsake of our wedding day and all of the little details that went into it. There are a ton of wedding photos, but (maybe) more importantly, I share our wedding cake recipe as cupcakes. (It’s a golden cake with a chocolate filling and hazelnut buttercream.) On our first anniversary this year we ate the top tier of the cake (which we had frozen), and I’m looking forward to making a fresh one for us this coming August as we celebrate our second anniversary.

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2015 was a fantastic year! As usual, I have way more ideas for this blog than I will have time for in 2016, and I’m looking forward to sharing as much as I can with you. Happy New Year!

Featured illustrations created with various mediums (pencil, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.)
Prints of my illustrations are available in my Etsy and Society6 shops.
Salmon packet photo by Robert Cornelius, and wedding photos by Bill Ecklund.
All other photos I took myself.

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