Photo of Hummingbird High's most popular recipes in 2025 arranged in a 2 x 3 grid

Readers’ Favorite Recipes From 2025

The following recipes are YOUR favorites from the year—that is, the most viewed recipes from the ones I made this year. If you keep up with food trends, you won’t be surprised by the list below! Some of the year’s most viral flavors like Baja Blast and Dubai Chocolate made the list:

close up photo of homemade Mountain Dew Baja Blast pie

Homemade Baja Blast Pie Recipe (Better Than Taco Bell!)

(5 stars) 6 reviews
A quick and creamy homemade copycat of Taco Bell’s seasonal Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie. This version adds a concentrated Baja Blast syrup to a key lime pie filling to make Baja Blast's signature zesty flavor and bold blue color. Easy and perfect for anyone craving the classic Taco Bell treat at home!
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Photo of a slice of Dubai chocolate pistachio tart on a white plate

Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Tart (Complete With A Crunchy Kataifi Filling!)

This Dubai chocolate pistachio tart is inspired by the viral chocolate with layers of crunchy, toasted kataifi filling; silky, velvety pistachio cream; and luscious, decadent chocolate ganache.
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Photo of Dubai chocolate millionaire with a bite taken out of it

Dubai Chocolate Millionaire Shortbread Bars

(5 stars) 2 reviews
These Dubai Chocolate millionaire shortbread bars are inspired by the viral chocolate bar and a Middle Eastern version of the popular chocolate and caramel cookie bar! The bar is made with 3 layers: classic butter shortbread, crunchy pistachio kataifi phyllo dough, and chocolate ganache.
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Although the previous list shows the most popular recipes I developed in 2025, plenty of older Hummingbird High recipes that I developed and published in previous years remained popular as well. Here were the top three most popular recipes on the site overall this past year:

photo of hand pouring a jar of vanilla sweet cream cold foam over a glass of iced coffee

Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam Recipe

(5 stars) 31 reviews
This vanilla sweet cream cold foam recipe is a copycat version of Starbucks' popular topping! The recipe makes a single serve portion perfect for one coffee.
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snickerdoodle recipe without cream of tartar

Snickerdoodle Recipe Without Cream of Tartar

(4.95 stars) 228 reviews
This snickerdoodle recipe makes snickerdoodles that are soft and chewy in the middle, yet crispy and lightly puffed around the edges. The best part? Unlike most traditional snickerdoodle recipes, this recipe does NOT use cream of tartar. The recipe uses baking powder instead! As a result, it's likely that you already have all the ingredients you need to make these cookies at home!
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ube crinkle cookies

Ube Crinkle Cookies Recipe

(4.93 stars) 242 reviews
Ube crinkle cookies are a beautiful, Filipino-American twist on the classic crinkle cookie! Ube is a purple yam frequently used in Southeast Asian desserts. It is naturally purple in color, with a subtle flavor that tastes like both pistachio and vanilla. These ube crinkle cookies get their vibrant color and flavor from both ube halaya jam and ube extract!
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My Favorite Recipes of 2025

One of my main goals this year was to develop recipes with flavors or concepts (like scaling down large batch recipes) that particularly interested me. Here were some of my favorites—I hope you get a chance to bake them, even if some of the ingredients are a little trickier to find!

Photo of vibrant green pandan crinkle cookies on a gold sheet pan

Soft and Chewy Pandan Crinkle Cookies

These Soft and Chewy Pandan Crinkle Cookies offer a fragrant pandan flavor, striking green color, and a classic powdered sugar crinkle finish. The recipe uses tested technique tweaks—like a generous amount of pandan extract and an overnight rest—to deepen the flavor and guarantee soft, tender cookies with bold cracks and chewy edges. It’s an easy, festive twist on a holiday favorite and a great introduction to baking with pandan!
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photo of a heaping small batch banana pudding in a pint jar

Small Batch Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding (Makes 1 Pint)

(5 stars) 1 review
This small batch Magnolia Bakery banana pudding recipe makes just ONE PINT of creamy, dreamy banana pudding! Despite yielding a smaller portion, the recipe is an exact copycat of the famous Magnolia Bakery banana pudding with a light, airy, silky texture.
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photo of thai tea cookies on a white parchment paper backdrop

Swirled Thai Tea Cookies with Condensed Milk

(4.34 stars) 3 reviews
Bring the flavors of Thai iced tea into a soft, chewy cookie! These swirled Thai tea cookies combine doughs infused with real Thai tea leaves and sweetened condensed milk—easy to make by hand, no mixer required. Perfect for tea lovers and cookie fans alike.
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Other 2025 Highlights

I don’t have too many highlights because this was the first time in seven years that Hummingbird High stopped being my full-time focus. I wrote about this in last year’s recap, but I returned back to the corporate world to work as a product manager in the tech world.

What did that mean for this space? Far less posts on social media, which I was long burned out on. Less recipes, too, with a renewed focus on flavors and concepts that excited me (see my favorites above).

Because my main motivation for doing so was to have financial independence when making creative decisions for this blog. I was tired of being beholden to SEO, social media algorithms, and choosing recipes to develop based on search terms and their potential to go viral. But it seems like I lucked out and inadvertently avoided the worst of AI’s effects on the industry (what’s being described as “extinction level event” for food bloggers in both The Guardian and Bloomberg).

That being said, it wasn’t a linear path out of full time blogging. Because of course, had other plans. I talk about it all in Hummingbird High’s anniversary post (I’ve been blogging for 14 years, can you believe it?!):

photo of rectangular cookie cake frosted and decorated with "OMG YAY"

Rectangular 9 x 13 Inch Cookie Cake

(5 stars) 5 reviews
This Rectangular 9 x 13 Inch Cookie Cake is a quick and easy dessert based on my popular Weeknight Baking cookie recipe. The dough comes together in just 5 minutes—no mixer or chilling required! Baked in a quarter sheet pan and topped with creamy American buttercream frosting, it’s soft, chewy, and filled with melty chocolate chips. A nostalgic, crowd-pleasing treat that tastes just like a classic mall cookie cake!
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Previous Hummingbird High Year-In-Reviews

Okay, that’s all for now, folks! I’ll see y’all in January. In the meantime, if you’re curious about other popular recipes and highlights from previous years, check out the year-in-review archives:

Michelle holding Weeknight Baking cookbook covering her face.

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Weeknight Baking:
Recipes to Fit your Schedule

Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.

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