Top Posts of 2013

After stuffing myself with hundreds of pounds of barbecue, puffy tacos, doughnuts, and more on a culinary tour of Texas, I decided it would be a wonderful idea to review the year in recipes. Specifically, the most popular recipes I published in 2013. If you're looking for ways to start eating healthy for your 2014 resolutions, you may want to wait a few days until I start publishing new recipes. If you just want some food that tastes delicious, read on. Either way, happy New Year!

13. Raspberry Bars

12. Peach Muffins

11. Croque Poulet

10. Passover Almond Thumbprint Cookies

9. Blueberry Muffins

8. Shrimp and Chorizo Pasta

7. Chocolate Raspberry Coffee Cake

6. Honey Ginger Salmon

5. Asian Broccoli Salad

4. Blackberry Buns

3. Summer Potato Salad

2. Beer & Bacon Pecan Bars

1. Orange Ricotta Cookies

Cranberry Almond Tart

To celebrate the holidays, I decided to make a beautiful festive dessert that is actually pretty easy. It's full of juicy, tart cranberries with a hint of almond liqueur. That delicious filling is topped with crunchy almond streusel, and everything is cradled in a crisp, buttery crust. If you have extra cranberry filling and streusel like I did, just stick everything in some ramekins and bake until golden and bubbly. I'll keep this post short so that you can get right to baking and celebrating, but I hope your holidays are tasty and relaxing!

2 Cups Flour

1 1/4 + 1/6 Cup Sugar

1/6 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1/4 tsp + Pinch Salt

1 Stick Butter, Chilled

1/2 Stick Butter, Melted

1 Egg Yolk

1 T Lemon Juice

12 oz Cranberries

1/4 Cup Blackberry Jam

2 T Almond Liqueur

1/4 tsp Almond Extract

1/3 Cup Sliced Almonds

Heat oven to 375F. Grease a 9-11" tart pan.

Pulse 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt in a food processor until combined. Add the chilled butter and pulse until small pieces remain. Combine the egg yolk with 1 T cold water and pulse in. Roll out to fit the prepared pan and chill until cold.

Prick the dough with a fork and press on a sheet of foil. Fill with pie weights and bake for 20 minutes or until firm. Remove the foil and weights, then bake for 3 minutes or until just golden. Leave oven at 325F.

Combine 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil and add the cranberries; reduce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the cranberries have popped. Remove from heat and stir in the jam, almond liqueur, and almond extract. Chill until cool.

Stir the remaining flour, remaining sugar, dark brown sugar, and remaining salt together. Add the melted butter and fold in the almonds.

Pour the cranberry filling into the crust. Crumble on the streusel and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Makes 1 Tart

Snickersnaps

Sometimes I just want a cookie. Sometimes a plain chocolate chip cookie just won't do. Sometimes I want different types of cookies but only want one cookie. Luckily, these snickersnaps solve all those problems. If you haven't heard of a snickersnap, that is perfectly ok. But I'm guessing you've heard of gingersnaps and snickerdoodles. A snickersnap is simply a gingersnap and a snickerdoodle rolled into one delicious bite. Literally.

The gingersnap dough is very similar to the snickerdoodle dough. For the snickerdoodles, I make a basic sugar cookie dough and then roll it in cinnamon sugar before baking. The only difference between these and my usual sugar cookies is that I use shortening instead of butter. It makes the cookies crisp and prevents them from spreading too much. The gingersnaps have molasses and spices, too, but I keep the doughs almost identical so that they bake properly and I don't have a half-raw, half-burnt cookie. All I do after making the doughs is roll some of each together and bake them. They taste like the holidays and make amazing gifts, too.

Snickerdoodles:
1/2 Cup Shortening
3/4 Cup + 3 T Sugar
1 Egg
1 T Vanilla
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 T Cinnamon

Gingersnaps:
3/4 Cup Shortening
1 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Molasses
1 Egg
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Cloves

Heat oven to 350F and line cookie trays with parchment.

For the snickerdoodles, beat the shortening and 3/4 cup sugar together. Add the egg and vanilla, then stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar. Combine the cinnamon and remaining sugar. Scoop the dough into about 44 walnut-sized balls, then roll each in the cinnamon sugar.

For the gingersnaps, beat the shortening and sugar together. add the molasses and egg, then stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Roll into about 50 walnut-sized balls.

Roll one ball of snickerdoodle dough with a ball of gingersnap dough until stuck together and slightly swirled. Repeat with remaining cookie dough; there will be a few plain gingersnaps. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through.

Makes 50
Recipe Adapted from http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.com/