My Top Ten Recipes for 2024

 

I thought today I would jump on the bandwagon and do as others have done and share with you the recipes which have been the top ten recipes as chosen by you, my sweet readers, over the past twelve months.  They are not necessarily recipes which I posted over the past year, but they are recipes which you all came back to look at and to try, again and again and again!

Ten different, delicious, simple and easy to make recipes that had the most views out of the over 350 recipes I posted over the last 52 weeks!  I was not really surprised to see the ones that were the most popular, as they were recipes that I have also enjoyed myself.

What recipes of mine that I posted over the past twelve months were favorites of yours?  Perhaps they didn't make the cut?  I would be very interested to know and to know why you enjoyed them!  Just leave a comment below.

In looking back I had a very hard time myself picking one of my favorites, but I finally settled on this one for Lemon Filled Breakfast Buns.

These were simply gorgeous.  They were such a simple make, and they came out beautifully soft and lemony.  I could have eaten the whole lot myself!  I am a huge fan of lemon anything!

I would also be interested in knowing what you want to see over the next 12 months. I have in mind to go back to the beginning every now and then and re-do some of the recipes from my archives, taking better photographs of them and updating the posts.  Are you a fan of the small batch recipes?  The Sunday Meals of the Week posts?  What is it that you want to see more of!  Just let me know!

And without further prattle, here are the top ten recipes of the past 12 months.  All were delicious, I promise, and you actually agreed with me!

NUMBER 10 - Macaroni and Cheese Meatloaf Casserole 

A simple everyday meal that never fails to please with a delicious, glazed meatloaf on the bottom, topped with a lush macaroni and cheese. You bake the meatloaf on its own for a time and then add the macaroni and cheese and finish it off. Altogether this is incredibly tasty, and I am not surprised it made it into the top ten!

Its like having your main and side all cooked together in one tasty casserole dish.  This was a real favorite with me as well!!

I love meat loaf and I love mac and cheese. The two together are genius if I don't say so myself!

NUMBER 9 - Mary Berry's Mincemeat Buns

Delicious little cakes made with the usual suspects and the addition of prepared mincemeat and by that I mean the jammy fruity concoction not actual minced meat. They go wonderfully with a nice hot cup of tea.  These are perfect with a lovely texture and just enough fruit, spice, and tastiness to make them a real treat. I would expect nothing less than perfection from a Mary Berry recipe.

They are not a muffin, and they are not a cake. They are somewhere in between the two. They are also a great way getting rid of the leftover mincemeat from Christmas! Nicely spiced and fruity.

NUMBER 8 - Six Delicious Dipping Sauces for Chicken Tenders

I had picked up a box of Tempura Chicken Tenders at the Running man and wanted to try out a few different dipping sauces with them. Who doesn't love a good dipping sauce for their chicken tenders!

I made a Sweet & Sour, an Alabama White BBQ Sauce, a Spicy Honey Chipotle Sauce, Restaurant Ranch, Honey Mustard and Bang Bang Sauce.  Some of them were new to me. 

I have of course had the ranch, and the sweet and sour in the past.  The Honey mustard was something I was also quite familiar with.  The other three were something new and I have to say I enjoyed all of them. Each was delicious in it's own right!

NUMBER 7 - Mary Berry's Cheese Scones

These beautiful Cheese Scones have been in the top ten recipes on the blog since the autumn of 2020, during the Pandemic.  Everyone was baking. What else was there to do when you were stuck in your house staring at the walls!  Baking was great therapy for boredom and loneliness.

These scones have a mix of beautiful flavours. Dry mustard powder and cayenne powder are both included in the mix. Both go very well with cheese. Do use a good quality strong cheddar if you can get one.  A farmhouse or Vintage cheddar is really nice.

These scones are beautiful served warm and split with some cold butter and some chilli jam. Its that sweet/hot/savoury combination that most people love. They are best on the day, but you can have it on good authority that they are also very good eaten cold the day after, whilst hunched over a computer keyboard.

NUMBER 6 - Magic Custard Cake

This fabulous dessert has been a favorite on the blog since I posted the recipe in 2014.  It's like a magic dessert. A cake that separates into three distinct layers, just like magic. It's kind of like a cross between a cake and a pie and everyone loves it.

Everything just gets thrown into a blender or beaten together with an electric whisk, poured into the baking pan and then baked.  I like to chill it for several hours before serving it. It cuts beautifully into wedges and is lovely served with fresh fruit. It is simple to make and delicious. 

NUMBER 5 - Super Duper Bran Muffins

This has been a favorite recipe since 2013. It had over 29,000 views this year alone and that is no surprise to me because this is the absolute best Bran Muffin recipe that you could ever want to bake and eat!

They are moist and generous . . . studded with lots of toasted nuts and plump sultanas . . . and best of all, they are incredibly low in fat, which may in fact mean that they are even better than my other bran muffin recipes. If I can deliver a muffin which is not only low fat, but also moist and delicious, well then . . . I think I'm on to a real winner, don't you??

 

NUMBER 4 - Mary Berry's Blueberry Muffins

Coming in at number three, we have Mary Berry's Blueberry Muffins. I first posted this recipe in August of 2021 when the local wild blueberries were ripening.  I loved these muffins and clearly you did too. Since I first posted the recipe there have been over 58,000 views.  No surprise there.

I adapted this recipe from her book, Mary Berry's Baking Bible, which contains over 250 classic recipes.  I, quite simply, love this book, almost as much as I love her! 

These muffins are muffins, pure and simple. Not too sweet. Not too large. Not simply small cakes disguised as muffins. Beautifully textured and delicious. This recipe makes six lovely muffins.

NUMBER 3 - Traditional Seed Cake

Recipes don't get much more traditional than this recipe for seed cake.  A very popular cake for enjoying in Great Britain with a cup of hot tea, and a very popular tearoom cake.  It is said to have been the favorite cake of William Wordsworth's sister Dorothy!

With over 26,000 views since 2016, this has been a very popular recipe with you the readers.  I am not surprised that it was Dorothy's favorite cake.  The flavor and texture of this cake is simply beautiful.  This is one for the cake tin!

If you can leave it to mature overnight, you are in for a real treat!

Buttery. Lightly flavored with caraway. It's really nice. Popular during Victorian times, this cake is lovely served thinly sliced along with a nice hot cup of tea, herbal or otherwise. Very traditional.

NUMBER 2 - Mary Berry's Sage & Onion Stuffing

I posted this recipe back in 2020 and it has had over 57,000 views since then! I don't know about you but, the stuffing is my favorite part of any meal which includes roast chicken or turkey.  I have always loved my mother's Potato and Bread Stuffing, all of my life, but from the first time I tasted Mary's recipe for sage and onion stuffing I fell in love, and it has been vying for first place with my mother's recipe ever since!

One reason I have fallen in love with this stuffing is because of the simplicity of its preparation. It takes relatively few ingredients and goes together very quickly. Simple ingredients put together in an incredibly delicious way. You need nothing more than onions, butter, soft breadcrumbs, some seasoning and sage. Simple.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE   . . . . . 

NUMBER 1 - Fried Bread

Incredibly enough, out of all of the recipes that I have posted on the blog over these past few years, the most popular of all this year was my recipe for Fried Bread!  I found that really surprising because it is such a simple thing and a beautiful part of a full English Breakfast.

Fried bread was not something I had ever heard of before I moved to the UK in the year 2000. I fell in love with fried bread the first time I tasted it. It was lovely, and as part of a breakfast eaten out, it was a rare treat, I always had that with my breakfast when we breakfasted in a cafe instead of toast. And it was gorgeous, simply gorgeous! Crisp and golden brown, not soaked in grease as one would suppose. Perfectly lovely. Not for the faint hearted for sure and an absolute treat.

In the old days they would have cooked it in beef dripping or bacon grease.  Both are incredibly tasty. Just saying. ☺

And there you have it the top ten recipes on the blog over the past 12 months.  That's a whole lot of tasty! I can tell you I am looking forward to seeing what comes up in my kitchen over the next 12 months!  Let's hope it is a good year for all of us!

Thanks for visiting! Do come again!! 

 If you like what you see here, why not consider signing up for my newsletter and/or subscribing/following me on Grow. You can also bookmark my recipes via the Grow platform. Check out the heart on the right hand side of the screen.

Also, if you have not checked out my YouTube Channel yet, do give it a gander. I would really appreciate it, and if you want to subscribe that would be even more appreciated!  Thank you so much!  It is not really fancy like some people's channels. I am very much learning as I go along, but what you get is authentic at least! There is nothing fake there! No filters, bells or whistles. Filmed in real time and unedited!