I hope you all haven’t minded my absence over the past week or so. I have been enjoying a much needed “staycation” away from both work and blogging. I can’t even begin to tell you how well rested and stress free I feel right now!
I hope you all had a great Christmas. Ours was wonderful as usual, and we were completely spoiled by our families. Of course I received several presents that are relevant for the blog so I wanted to share them with you!
This lens was my present from Derek. I have to be honest, this wasn’t much of a surprise, since I have been wanting this lens ever since I got my digital SLR camera in April. I informed Derek that I didn’t care who it came from, but he needed to make sure that someone got this for me for Christmas. He was sneaky about it and hid it inside the tree so that I never saw it until we opened our gifts!
This was the other big present I really wanted this year, an ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid mixer. I have seen a lot of homemade ice cream recipes on blogs this year and have been dying to try my own. I haven’t had the opportunity to use it yet but have plans to try it next weekend.
I am so excited about getting Booze Cakes from my sister-in-law. There are so many delicious looking recipes that I am dying to try!
I also received a doughnut pan so I can make them baked instead of fried, and a book on how to create cute little characters with marzipan and fondant, plus a few cupcake calendars and an adorable cupcake apron.
I hope you all were spoiled as well!
Since it is the end of the year I have been looking forward to doing a bit of a recap of the past 6 months of blogging. These are the recipes that you guys have been looking at the most!
TOP TEN POPULAR RECIPES
10. Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
9. Special K Bars
8. Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels
7. Pudding Shots
6. Graham Cracker Caramel Apple Cookies
5. Caramel Corn
4. Strawberry Golden Oreo Cupcakes
3. Dutch Apple Cheesecake
2. Halloween Oreo Cupcakes
1. Pumpkin Bread
Since Derek is the official Baking Junkie taste tester, I also had him compile a list of his top favorites.
DEREK’S TOP TEN FAVORITES
10. Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
9. Glazed Doughnut Muffins
8. Cinnamon Rolls
7. Chocolate Peanut Butter Blowout Cookies
6. Candy Cane Cake
5. White Chocolate Chip Blondies
4. Caramel Apple Bars
3. Oatmeal Carmelitas
2. Beer Bread
1. Double Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes
And last but not least, here is a list of my personal top ten favorites. I have to say that I have enjoyed everything that you’ve seen on the site so this was REALLY hard for me, but here they are.
AIMEE’S TOP TEN FAVORITES
10. Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
9. Chocolate Peanut Butter Blowout Cookies
8. Graham Cracker Caramel Apple Cookies
7. Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins
6. Candy Cane Cake
5. Caramel Apple Bars
4. Lemon Bars
3. S’more Cookie Bars
2. Cinnamon Rolls
1. Double Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes
As you can see the Cookie Dough cupcakes are quite popular around here, and I have made them more than anything else from the blog (I think the count is up to 8 times since July)! They are hugely popular whenever I make them and are my most requested item.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started blogging in June, but you guys have all blown me away with your kindness and comments. I truly read and appreciate every single one. If you have any special requests or anything particular you would like to see more of I would love to hear about it! Do you like step by step pictures? More personal stories and pictures? More of a certain kind of dessert? Please let me know!
Just a reminder, you can also follow Baking Junkie on Facebook and Twitter.
I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year’s. I will be back with more recipes next week!
Aimee 
