May 2013 Recipes

May flew by for me and I spent lots of it in the kitchen. Here’s what I made, along with noteworthy events, and my reflections on the month.

Browned Butter Oatmeal Raisinet White Chocolate Bars

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze

25 Cinco de Mayo and Easy Summertime Recipes

Soft and Chewy Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Caramel Twix Bars

Soft and Chewy Coconut Milk Bread (vegan)

Homemade Ginger Ale (vegan, GF)

25 Desserts For Mother’s Day

Healthy Oatmeal Miracle Cookies (vegan, GF) – NO added sugar, salt, oil, butter, flour, or eggs

 

Peanut Butter Honey Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Streusel

Strawberry Sweet Rolls with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

Mini Blue Cheese Quiche Phyllo Cups

Favorite Strawberry Recipes

20 Healthier Lunch and Snack Ideas and Recipes (many vegan, GF)

Soft and Chewy Cinnamon Chip Snickerdoodle Cookies

Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Strawberries and Cream Coffee Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

Creamy Boozy Iced Coffee

20 Beat The Heat No-Bake Treats

25 Copycat Recipes and Cookbook Giveaway

Twix Bar Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

Six-Banana Banana Bread

Bourbon Maple Slow Cooker Baked Beans (vegan, GF)

Notable Events:

I got a Blog Makeover – I was thrilled with my site when I unveiled it, but it still felt a little new and somewhat foreign. With each passing day, I love the new look and functionality even more, and it feels like mine now.

There are so many features and things I love, but am most pleased with the visual recipe indexing and categorizing of the recipes. Please refer to this post for all the ways you can search for recipes on my site.

I strive to make my site as user-friendly as possible because my readers can’t make recipes they don’t know exist. Hopefully it’s easier to navigate now than before and having the pictures that accompany the recipes is nice even for me.

I held my Cookbook for the First Time – Opening the box of author copies that my publisher sent was an extremely proud and happy moment.

Thumbing through the book, seeing my recipes and photography, all glossy, shiny, and new is surreal, wonderful, exciting, and a little bit terrifying. I poured my heart and soul into the book and I hope you love it as much as I do.

The official release date is Tuesday, June 4 – This Week!

If you’ve pre-ordered on Amazon, I believe they may ship slightly before June 4. Thank you to those who’ve bought my book. Your support and vote of confidence means the world.

Reflections:

It was the month for strawberries and strawberry jam (5 posts) – Coconut Milk Bread with Strawberry Jelly, Strawberry Sweet Rolls, a Strawberry Recipe Roundup, Strawberries and Cream Coffee Cake, and Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly Muffins.

Candy was on my mind (4 posts) – Oatmeal Raisinet Bars, Homemade Peanut Butter Twix Bars, Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies, Twix Chocolate Chip Cookies. I loved each and every one of those items, but the Homemade Peanut Butter Twix Bars and the Snickers Cookies stole my heart. The Twix bars were my favorite layered bar in awhile, and the Snickers Cookies are my favorite twist ever on chocolate chip cookies.

I made things I have never made and things that I nothing even remotely close to in my archives (4 posts) – French Almond Cake which turned out to be one of my husband’s favorite cakes and I loved the glaze; Homemade Ginger Ale, Mini Blue Cheese Quiche, Bourbon Baked Beans. The beans are a bucket list item I can now mentally cross off.

I made two savory recipes – Mini Blue Cheese Quiche and Bourbon Baked Beans. This is up from zero for the past few months. I think I’ve maybe posted 5 savory recipes all 2013. I enjoy creating sweets more than savory. Plus, photographing savory is more time-sensitive. Serving cold tacos or cold lasagna to my family just so I can photograph them is not an option as a general rule; whereas cookies and cakes can be made and photographed at any time, without keeping a hungry family waiting.

I made two and a half things with alcohol – Boozy Iced Coffee and Bourbon Baked Beans. The Ginger Ale tasted so much like sake to me, so I count it as a half thing.

New Cookie Recipes (4) – Snickers Chocolate Chip, Twix Chocolate Chip, Healthy Miracle Cookies, Cinnamon Chip Snickerdoodles

New Bar-Cookie Recipes (2) – Oatmeal Raisinet Bars, Peanut Butter Twix Bars

I have found that people love cookie and bar cookies. Although it sometimes feels a bit repetitive to make more cookies, that’s what people seem to want, based on page views and clicks. And I’m surely not complaining because I love eating cookies.

New Cakes (3) – French Almond, Peanut Butter Streusel, Strawberries and Cream Coffee Cake. While the first two cakes were very, very good, the Strawberries and Cream Coffee Cake as compared to other coffee cakes, is by far the best coffee cake I’ve ever made or had. For a unique cake that’s reminiscent of a cookie, try the French Almond Cake and for chocolate-peanut butter cravings, try the Peanut Butter Streusel Cake. I’ve had quite a few people say they’ve made it and everyone has raved about it. You can’t ever go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate.

Recipe Roundups (6) – I posted quite a few roundups with from Healthy Snack and Lunch Ideas to No-Bake Dessert ideas to Favorite Copycat Recipes. I like it when my favorite bloggers hand-pick their favorite recipes and showcase them again. It serves as both a reminder of what I wanted to try as well as what she feels was noteworthy enough to mention again. Plus, I like going through my archives and digging out some diamonds in the rough.

All in all, such a busy month, and one I really liked.

Previous Recaps:

January 2013 Recipes

February 2013 Recipes

March 2013 Recipes

April 2013 Recipes

What did you do or make in this month that was memorable?

Check back for two awesome giveaways this weekend!