Hello friends! I am currently in Seoul with one of my good friends from college. We’re here freezing our butts off and eating up a storm. Be sure to follow along on Instagram to catch up on my adventures! But don’t worry—I still made time for my annual lookback, where I review your favorite recipes from the past year. Ready for it? Here goes:

—

Readers’ Favorite Recipes of 2019

The following recipes are YOUR favorites from the year—that is, the most viewed recipes of mine from 2019. In years past, you guys have been really into cakes and anything chocolate; however, this year, you switched it up and I’m proud of ya:

1. Japanese Cheesecake

I am very excited that this was one of the most popular recipes on my blog this year! Japanese cheesecake is definitely a more advanced recipe (it can be really tricky to get that super light and fluffy texture—it’s almost like a soufflé), so I’m so pleased that many of you decided to give this recipe a try (or at least, considered it by visiting the blog post repeatedly, lol). Hooray!

2. Levain Bakery Blueberry Muffins

Ah, yes. After kicking myself for never trying Levain Bakery’s blueberry muffins when I lived literally three subway stops away, I decided to remake them at home. It’s hard to resist those massive, sugar-crusted muffin tops… but it turns out you guys thought so too! This was the second most popular recipe on my blog this year, which I am very grateful for because I literally baked these muffins at least eight times to try and get the recipe just right, lol.

3. Better-Than-Supernatural Fudge Brownies

The one chocolate item on this list happens to be one of my all-time favorite recipes on my blog and in my book, forever and ever: these Better-Than-Supernatural Fudge Brownies. These are adapted from Weeknight Baking and are just the fudgiest and most chocolaty brownie recipe EVER—I’m so glad you all thought so too!

—

My Favorite Recipes of 2019

2019 was the Year of the Cookie on Hummingbird High. I made 16 different cookie recipes, from tangy meyer lemon sugar cookies with a “secret ingredient” to more traditional ones like this brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe (both of which just barely missed being in y’all’s list of top three favorite recipes of the year). So it’s no surprise that two out of my top three favorite recipes from this year ended up being cookies:

1. Chocolate Chipless Cookies

What happens when you take out the chocolate in the chocolate chip cookie? Thanks to this recipe, I now know the answer: you’re left with a delicious, toffee and brown sugar-flavored cookie that stands perfectly well on its own. Of course, it only works if you use a really good dough to begin with (pro-tip: for this recipe, I used the chocolate chip cookie dough from Weeknight Baking).

2. S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is almost the polar opposite of the previous recipe for chocolate chipless cookies, lol. I loaded my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe (yep, still the one in Weeknight Baking) with s’mores fixings like graham cracker crumbs and the best toasted vanilla marshmallows. The result was the perfect ooey, gooey mess of a cookie.

3. Ube Blossom Cookies

Continuing my obsession for all things ube, I finally shared a variation of my friend Autumn’s famed ube crinkle cookies on the blog. I’m embarrassed to tell you guys how many of these cookies I ended up eating in one sitting, but know this—it was a LOT.

—

Your Favorites on Instagram

Your favorites on Instagram this year included a wide range of fun recipes and bakes from this year and others, including these vanilla custard-filled donuts from Bread Ahead Bakery; Stella Parks’ fudge brownies from her book, Bravetart; 24 Hour 24 Dollar Chocolate Chip Cookies; Tangy Meyer Lemon Sugar Cookies; S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies; Passionfruit and Blueberry Cream Tart; and Spring Flower Sugar Cookies. I also shared a sheet cake celebrating my book being sent off to the printers and my kitchen being refreshed (more on that below!).

—

Other 2019 Highlights

For me, 2019 flew by in a flash. I was focused on finishing my book for the majority of the year—all of a sudden I looked up, and half the year had already flown by! Here were some highlights from the year:

1. My first cookbook, Weeknight Baking, finally debuted!

In case you have somehow missed ALL my freaking posts about this, my first cookbook, Weeknight Baking, finally came out this past October! The book is about the years I spent balancing my day job in tech with Hummingbird High, and how I made a ton of recipes fit in my demanding schedule by seeking out quick and easy recipes, as well as learning how to break down more time-intensive ones to work over a few days. You can buy a copy here, and read all my posts about the making of the book, too.

2. Erlend and I are getting married!

Close friends and family already know the news, but this is the first time I’m announcing it publicly—my boyfriend/longterm partner Erlend and I are officially getting married! Truth be told, I’m still sorting out how much I want to share with everybody on this space; I’m sure that you’ll see more to come these next few weeks as I continue to figure it out. But for now, here is a photo of the two of us from 2009, literally ten years ago, when we first got together. We look like babies, lol.

3. I “refreshed” my kitchen with a new look!

Okay, if you’re a long time reader of Hummingbird High, you’ll know that I did a full kitchen remodel not too long ago in 2014. I loved the remodel, but played it super safe with neutral colors and stainless steel appliances. This time, I did a minor refresh and updated the colors to be more in line with my current tastes—check it out!

—

Thanks for following along!!! I have moderately big plans lined up for next year, including a redesign for the blog and focusing on even more accessible and time-saving baking recipes to share with everybody. Be sure to check out the highlights from the previous years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012. Let’s keep baking in 2020!