Happy Friday, everyone!  Today I’m doing a little retrospecting, with some of my favorite recipes from 2013.  Maybe you’ve made some of them, maybe you have other ideas, I’d love to hear what you think.  Choosing favorites is always hard, but  I can vividly remember my first bite (or sip) of each and every one of these Best of the Bests.  They run the gamut from hot and spicy, to cold and crunchy, with every taste sensation in between.  But I didn’t chose them just because they taste great.  These are also recipes that were fun and easy to make.  That’s half the battle, right?  If you don’t love making it, it’s never going to get into your mouth in the first place.

Like my Beautiful Breakfast Tart, I had such fun laying out the mosaic of fruit over the creamy layer of yogurt.  It just happened organically, starting on the outside with the bright red strawberries and working my way inward.  This tart can be made all year round with whatever fruit happens to be in season.

And I knew the minute I stuck my spreading knife into the Nutella Buttercream and started swirling it onto the banana cake that I had a winner.  This one has been at the top of my desserts list all year.  Nothing can beat it.  While I’m usually pretty good at controlling myself during photo shoots, I lost it that day.  It was kind of scary, actually.  I’ll admit it, the Banana Cake with Nutella Buttercream has special powers.

Other recipes made the cut because they are just so unique, such instant conversation starters… the ‘party in your mouth’ kind of stuff. The Trinidad Sour and my Pink Grapefruit Habanero Jam are good examples.  They’re not to be missed.

You’ll just have to check out the slideshow below to get the full roster of Bests.  I hope you make it a New Year’s resolution to try at least one of them!

*This post was part of a sponsored opportunity with Foodie.com.

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