Remember That Time I Made That Thing? ( Yearly Wrap-Up 2013 )

We're at the very tail end of the year, and because I'm completely susceptible to peer pressure, behold!  A list of this year's most popular recipes, complete with gleaming photographs.  It's been a challenging year, and I'm grateful to every person who visits Being a Bear and helps to remind me why I write.  Your favorite recipes of the year were: 

10.   Butterscotch Pudding

9.   Shrimp in Coconut Milk

8.   Sharp Cheddar Cheese Crackers

7.   Monte Cristo Pockets

6.   Detroit-Style Coney Dogs

5.   Paczki

4.   Pasties

3.   Rice Pudding

2.   Black Forest Fudge

1.   Chicken-Fried Steak

And because it's author's prerogative, here are my favorite 3 that didn't make the list but totally deserved to:

Apple-Maple Turkey Burgers with Maple Dijon Sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No-Bake Coconut Date Cracker Bars with Browned-Butter Glaze

Rosemary and Browned Butter Applesauce

Here's wishing you health, happiness, and endless supplies of browned butter in 2014.  
Love,

The Bearfrau

Have Yourself a Merry Little Meltdown( + Gingerbread with Spiced Orange Caramel Sauce )

Let's talk for a minute about what the holidays are like for an introvert.

Remember the bleak hellscape from the Terminator movies?  The burned-out post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland carpeted with ash and human bones?  The one where, just as you think you're starting to understand the horror of this dark new world, a metal foot crushes down on the human skull you were just looking at, and you look up into the cold red gaze of a killer robot?

Yeah.  It's kind of like that.

But with eggnog.

12 Days of Cookies( + Red-Hot Chocolate Slices )

Are you exhausted yet?  Are you cranky?  Are you staring at two visually identical gift cards and wondering which is the $25 you received from your third cousin yesterday, and which is the $100 you're supposed to give to your brother?

12 Days of Cookies( + Apricot Sandwich Cookies )

I may have miscalculated here.  I've forgotten my seasons.

12 Days of Cookies( + Chocolate-Dipped Espresso Shortbread Cookies )

On Thursday I gave you a cookie for the children in your life (big and small).  Today's a cookie for the adults.  

It's the kind of cookie you could serve to Great Aunt Myrtle alongside tea.  

12 Days of Cookies ( + Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks )

What is it that's so delightful about a cookie the size of your head?

12 Days of Cookies( + Peppermint Brownies )

I don't usually post about giveaways or contests or events, but today we're going to change things up a bit.  

And we're going to talk about cookies.  Because it's December, and that's a given.

12 Days of Cookies( + No-Bake Coconut-Date Cracker Bars with Browned Butter Glaze )

Over the weekend I stumbled upon a singularly snarky message board that specialized in bashing food bloggers.  With names of blogs.  In great detail.

12 Days of Cookies( + Pecan Sandies with Praline Filling )

No one's ever going to mistake me for a Southern girl.  I like my cornbread sweet, and my alligators safely behind glass at the zoo.

But man, I love their food.

12 Days of Cookies( + Almond Cherry Bars )

There really aren't any words to fully describe the level of my appreciation for the cherry-almond flavor combination.  

A thesaurusful of superlatives wouldn't do it justice.

12 Days of Cookies( + Raisin-Filled Ginger Crisps )

I have an irrational sense of ownership regarding these cookies.

12 Days of Cookies( + Chocolate-Peppermint Meringue Kisses )

Are you ready to get back to business?

The business of Christmas cookies, that is.