Our Top 10 Posts for 2020

Share with friends!

A huge thank you to you! For visiting our little corner of the world everyday, who loves the recipes here at PLB and creating your own memories with something sweet. 

I really appreciate you!

It’s been a mixed up crazy year to be sure.  I hope you and your loved ones have been able to stay safe, work from home and keep the COVID funk at bay.

I call it the COVID funk because that’s been the biggest struggle for me – coping with the isolation.  Just having coffee with my friends is a huge ordeal right?

I read somewhere recently that even casual contact – like saying hello to the clerk who rings up your groceries, or your mail lady can help you.  

I have a real little community of dog walkers that I chat with all the time now when Millie and I go out for our walks. 

Anyway. I do sincerely hope you are doing ok, and baking up lots of goodness.  By the looks of this list, you have! 

Let’s do the Letterman way of revealing the Top 10 ok?

10. Paleo Banana Muffins

I laugh out loud when I remember the first time I made these sweet and moist muffins.  They were flat as a pancake!  But the next time I figured out that baking with almond flour was slightly different and adjusted accordingly.  Everyone loves these muffins.  You should read the comments!

9. DIY Fairy Lights

This is a roundup post but there are so many cool ideas for you to create your own special space, on your porch, in your backyard, wherever you want that tranquility to be.  Who knew the lowly little string light that we used to get out at Christmas time would be so popular.  Creating your own little twinkle world is very Hygge too don’t you think?

8. Homemade Tourtiere

This year we added a video to our popular Tourtiere recipe! And the concept of making the filling on the stove top or using an Instant Pot (pressure cooker) is really popular!  I think the best part though is using a frozen pie crust.  I know right? But sometimes I just don’t have enough pie crust frozen in my freezer and when you’re pressed for time, a ready made pie crust is just what you need.  They taste so good now too, not like the cardboard ones that used to be on the market. 

7. How to live a hygge life

You all love Hygge!  Ha Ha, no surprise there. When I first came across the concept of living a cozy life, like they do in Denmark, I was completely mesmerized with all things Hygge.  So much so I even opened an online shop called My Simple Hygge Life!  This popular post lists 30 ways to get some hygge into your life all year long, from early Spring to Fall and Christmas. Our How to Survive Winter with Hygge is trending right now!

6. Hygge in Autumn

The popularity of this post really surprised me, but I shouldn’t have been.  Autumn is one of my favourite times of the year, and there are so many fun ways to be cozy from baking some of the best apple desserts (go pick the apples) to cozy evenings with your shawl and candles.  Not quite winter, Fall or Autumn still has a nip in the air at night or when you want to take that lovely long Sunday afternoon walk and play in the leaves. 

5. Cake Mix Biscotti

This little cake mix hack has consistently been a popular recipe, and you all love to add. your own special ingredients!  When we first got home from Italy after having eaten our way through the Tuscan countryside, I knew I had to figure out a way to make these yummy little cookies.  If you’ve read the post, you know we were at our trailer, and I had a cake mix to use as the base.  The first time I just included almonds, and later cranberry and almonds.  You love to put all kinds of nuts, chocolate chips and other goodies in too!  One of my fave ideas is to dip the ends in melted chocolate and add sprinkles.  Too yummy and biscotti makes a wonderful gift too!

4. Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Hah, I can see you making yucky faces! Mayonnaise in a cake, how could that recipe be in the top 10?  Well the use of mayonnaise which is really eggs and oil, makes for the creamiest, most decadent chocolate cake by far.  Homemade from scratch, you will be so happy with this recipe that’s perfect for birthdays, potlucks or just to feed that chocolate craving.  It’s one of the best chocolate desserts we have on the blog!

3. Cherry Pie

My oh my you love our cherry pie! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. LOL.  Seriously though, our cherry pie has a zillion reviews on Pinterest, on this recipe, everywhere. I think mostly because it’s such a simple recipe.  We use frozen sour cherries, and everyone – even beginner pie bakers show us their successful yummy pies.  And no soggy bottoms either, we teach you the best ways to make sure your fruit pies don’t go soggy.  Cherry pie is one of the best ways to celebrate summer!

2. Pumpkin muffins

Muffins are one of my favourite breakfast foods, and we have several great muffin recipes here at YCLROL/PLB. And you really like our pumpkin muffin recipe. I typically make muffins medium sized so that the recipe makes more, and if you want two – well there’s nothing wrong with that! This pumpkin muffin is lightly spiced, freezes well and is the perfect complement to a Hygge autumn day.  

1. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

And our number 1 is the ever popular Strawberry Rhubarb Pie! One of original pie recipes from way back in 2015 when I started posting to Perfect Pies & Pastry! Fast forward to now and it still is our number 1 recipe.  Plans to update the post are underway, with a recipe video coming soon too!

While this strawberry rhubarb pie recipe gets thousands of great reviews you do struggle with that soggy pie bottom challenge, so we’ve tried to address that by giving you some tips and tricks to avoid soggy fruit pies. You can enjoy strawberry rhubarb pie all year long now too with frozen fruit.  I almost always use a strawberry rhubarb frozen fruit mix when baking this delicious pie. 

So that’s it! And a sincere thanks from me to you for making this year, 2020 so successful.

I’m looking forward to spending time together in 2021, testing new recipes, and looking for creative and cozy ways to add balance to your life. So while we started out as mainly a food blog – I’m very happy with where we are now.

I hope you are too, and will return often.  And we have a new feature too, you can actually save your recipes so that they are ready for you anytime.  

Xo

Share with friends!