My Favorite Recipes from 2012
January – White Chocolate Frito Popcorn This stuff is seriously addictive. The combination of sweetness from the M&Ms and white chocolate and the salty crunchiness from the popcorn and fritos is indescribable. I took this to a Super Bowl Party and it was a huge success.
February – Roasted Garlic and Chicken Soup Hubby absolutely adores garlic. This soup has a rich garlicy flavor. I served this with freshly baked bread multiple times last winter.
March – Browned Butter Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies This has become my go-to chocolate chip cookies recipe. I’ve made it more times than I can count with a variety of mix-in options.
April – Purple Ombre Cake This is quite an impressive cake. But don’t let it intimidate you. You can break up the process and do a lot of it ahead of time. It’s perfect for any special occasion. And even if you don’t make this overly impressive cake, be sure to make the passion fruit curd that I used for filling. It’s divine.
May – Giant M&M Cookies I love M&M Cookies. These cookies are the size of your hand and perfectly gooey on the inside with a crisp outer edge.
June – Patriotic Quake Cake I really got in to cakes in 2012 apparently. This one was so fun to make and I can’t make it again for another holiday.
July – Roasted Cherry Brownie Cheesecake This recipe warmed me up to the idea of cherries. I’m really not a fan at all. But when you roast them, then pour them between and over a layer of brownie and a layer of cheesecake, how can you go wrong?
August – Peach, Bacon, Avocado Sandwich Peaches are my all-time favorite fruit. This sandwich was very unique and delicious.
September – Banana Coconut Bread A coworker of mine called this exquisite. Enough said.
October – Apple 7 Layer Magic Bars This twist on a classic recipe had a combination of amazing fall flavors – homemade applesauce, apples, coconut, white chocolate, and cinnamon.
November – Boston Cream Pie Cheesecake Cake This was the only cheesecake cake I made last year. That’s sad because I love them. It had all the flavors of the a Boston Cream Pie without the pastry cream.
December – Pecan Pie Brownies These brownies are the stuff of dreams. A fudgey brownie topped with a layer of pecan pie baked right on top. Amazing.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Happy Birthday!!!!
I had one of those lists when i was 28 too, then i got pregnant. that was the only thing i got to cross off 🙂 Good luck with your list and enjoy your last year of your 20’s!! What a great way to gear up for 30!! And let me just say that 30 is great, i am having a blast!!!
I saw marshmallows on your list. I have a great recipe and they are seriously easy to make and so delicious that you will never want to eat store marshmallows again!
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/12/homemade_chocolate_dipped_mars.html
Happy Birthday! I’m starting to create a similar list… good luck accomplishing all of it!
Happy birthday!
I made a list before I turned 30 also. It is addictive so I keep an ongoing list. Then this year I did Mondo Beyondo and list got crazier!
On the chicken tikka front, Cook’s Illustrated did a recent chicken tikka and it is unbelievable! As close to the restaurant as you can get.
And for cooking classes, my husband and I took a knife skills class together in Chicago and it was THE BEST class I have ever taken. I can easily chop like the pros and it has saved us literally hundreds of hours in the kitchen.
Here’s my list for this year:
http://jonandlaura.blogspot.com/2010/03/36-wishes-for-upcoming-year.html
Happy Birthday!
I’ll be 29 in August, so I think I’m going to steal your idea and make a list of my own (probably with a lot of the same things you mentioned!)
Happy Birthday! Hope you have a fabulous day!
I’ve been reading your blog for a while but I think this is my first time commenting. I just wanted to say that I think it’s awesome that you have a list of goals to hit before you hit 30! I’m turning 30 myself in about a month and a half and I’m wondering where all the time went. Maybe I’ll set a couple goals to fulfill within the next several weeks. Happy birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!
These are really great goals. I haven’t been to the beach since moving to Boston 3 years ago either. Ridiculous. Must change this this summer 🙂
I’m turning 29 this year also (ahhhh!) and I love this idea. Good luck on your goals. And definitely keep us updated with your progress.
I really need to make a list like this too! That’s a lot to accomplish in a year, but I think you can do it!
Happy birthday!! 🙂
Sues
Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone. And thanks for the recipe links! If anyone has any others to share to help me get through my list, I’m all ears!
What a fantastic list!! I need to make one for 35 things to do before I’m 35 hmmm.
Good luck with getting through this list. It looks so fantastic.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Birthday!
This is a great idea – 30s are great – however I only have a couple years left of them.
Love your blog…
Hello and Happy Birthday to a fellow midwest transplant!! I’m from Greenville, OH (it’s 40 miles north and west of Dayton) and now live in Central Massachusetts! Your list is quite similar to mine…especially about keeping in touch and meeting friends babies back home!! It gets tough living so far away. Good luck with the list, and keep baking, I love your recipes!!
I’ve started to make baked donuts. I wish there were more recipes than just plain out there. http://americancupcakeinlondon.blogspot.com/2010/06/mini-cake-donuts.html
I just did a trial at a Bikram Yoga studio. It’s miserable doing it but I lost 1kg after only 4 classes!
I’m organizing a bloggers event but sadly it’s in London 🙁 It’s hard work. I’m trying to get a guest speaker but no one is interested as this is the first one.
Love the list! I just made baked doughnuts… they were beautiful… unfortunately they tasted nothing like doughnuts. Maybe there’s a better recipe out there for you! I’ll look forward to checking back to see if you have any success with those.
Happy Belated Birthday! I check out your blog often and love it! I love the list you got going- I think I need to start one up 🙂
We made bagels the other morning and they are surprisingly easy! If you wanna check them out :
http://sweetebakes.blogspot.com/2010/06/homemade-bagels.html
Happy belated birthday! I had problems accessing your blog for some reason on Thursday, but wanted to pass along well wishes and echo everyone’s thoughts on what a great idea your list is. Alas, similar to Roxan, I’m turning 30 in August but maybe I can set a few reasonable goals to achieve in that short time. 🙂
Great list. I think I’m going to do 1 for my b-day tomorrow. Of things I want to do this year.
First – happy belated birthday! Second – I love the list…what a great idea. I love the name of it too. I may borrow it for my 30 “while I’m in my” 30’s! To be honest though, 30 was a tough birthday, but I’ve never loved life more than I do now!
Hope to see you over at Sunny Bug sometime 🙂