Snackable Bakes for the New Year

Happy New Year, peeps! Yes yes yes: I know that this newsletter has arrived in your inbox during the second week of 2024, but I believe that we are still within that window when such greetings are appropriate. I have been thinking about 2024 resolutions over the last week and am really hoping to work more efficiently this year, which I hope will translate into working less - not exactly sure how that is going to play out, since my next cookbook drops on September 24th (mark your calendars!!). But the thing is I have trouble saying no, because every professional opportunity has the potential to be something great and I live in mortal fear of missing out on greatness . . . anyway, that is where my head is right now - where is yours? Any resolutions you’d like to share?  

Resolutions or not, a short recap of 2023 is in order. This IG post was my attempt at summarizing some of the year’s top moments, but making a giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and chocolate whoopie pies with Zooey Deschanel, hosting my very own baking podcast and being on the Today Show TWICE in one week, were definitely some of the highlights.

But in addition to sharing my number one 2024 resolution with you, and some of this past year's highlights, I also wanted to share the top five most POPULAR recipes of 2023 over on my site, jessiesheehanbakes.com!! We’ll start with number 5 in an effort to build suspense and embrace the drama of it all, but let me just say that number 1 bodes EXTREMELY well for my new easy peasy savory baking book hitting shelves in the fall . . . so, without further ado . . .

Coming in at number 5 is my Lemon Ricotta Snacking Cake - it’s a one-bowl cake that comes together in minutes and is finished with an easy, sweet, but tart lemon glaze. The cake was inspired by my grandmother’s “lemon velvet cake;” a cake I adored as a kid, but that I learned years later - actually came from a box. And honestly it explains a lot (aka it explains my deep affinity for creating homemade cakes that remind me of boxed ones . . . ). The ricotta cheese contributes to the cake’s fluffy texture and the copious amounts of lemon zest and juice make for a truly lemony lemon cake experience.

Number 4 is my easy-peasy Mixed Berry Pie With Olive Oil Crust and Crumble. If the crust looks familiar, it might be because you’ve made my melted butter pie crust from Snackable Bakes - and maybe you’ve even made my Raspberry Crumble Pie with said crust from the book. Here, however, the melted butter is substituted with olive oil in both the crust and crumble. The crust is of the press-in variety and the filling is fab with frozen berries. In short, the pie is dreamy and deserves making, stat.

Next up at number 3 is my Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Mug Cake and honestly, it comes as no surprise to me that this recipe made 2023’s top five. I mean it’s basically a slightly underdone chocolate chip cookie for one (meaning no sharing,you’re welcome), assembled in a mug and “baked” in the microwave in a minute(ish).

Number 2 is my Blackberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf from Snackable Bakes. This cake - like the pie above can be made with frozen berries - so it is a totally appropriate bake for the chillier months. It also is deeply lemony in flavor because you rub the zest into the sugar called for in the recipe, and this activates the zest’s flavorful oil. And it’s also a super moist cake because instead of butter, the cake calls for oil. I adore an oil-based cake (you can read all about my adoration here) as besides the moist texture, olive-oil based cakes stay fresh longer than a butter-based one - and some think they get better with age.

The moment of truth is here, peeps: my number one recipe of 2023 is  . . . my Butter-Honey Glazed Cornbread!! Can you believe it?! A savory recipe! It feels like we need a drum roll here – and maybe some fireworks exploding – because who knew that the number one most viewed recipe wouldn’t be cake, or cookies or pie . . . but cornbread! I mean in some ways I’m not surprised since it is a truly fantastic version of a classic (very corny-tasting, extra-moist (from the butter, the oil, the honey glaze and some yolks that I just had to throw in for good measure) and tender as all get out from buttermilk). And I love it for all of that - but what I really love is that this savory recipe being number one in 2023, is a great omen for 2024, when my easy-peasy savory baking cookbook comes out. (Oh, and if you want to know more behind the scenes details about the book, please subscribe to my paid newsletter).

Alrighty folks, that’s it for this first letter of 2024. Looking forward to sharing many more with you this year and also looking forward to the next letter where we’ll take one last look at 2023 with a few of the recipes that made the “best of” list over at the Washington Post.