When I was getting ready for my trips to New York last Fall, I was trying to think of all the places I ate the last time I visited The Big Apple in 2009. I was about to check the Planet Byn archives to re-live all the good eats when I realized…I didn’t have this website back then. At this point, after FIVE YEARS of blogging, it just seems like it’s always been part of my life. I still love it just as much today as I did five years ago. Let’s take a look back at most viewed posts, my favourite posts, and some fun highlights of the year!

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts {from the archives}:

  1. Dinosaur Birthday Cake
  2. Lemon Meringue Cookies
  3. School Bus Birthday Cake
  4. Easter Candy Bark & Homemade Cream Eggs
  5. Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts {from the last year}:

  1. The Dream Slice – My first giveaway!
  2. Bananas Cake – Love this post for Baked Sunday Mornings because I re-created the cover photo from Baked Elements.
  3. Vanilla Bean Malt Cake – My #1 overall recipe from Baked Elements.
  4. Blueberry Lime Cornmeal Muffins – #MessyBakerMonday FTW!
  5. Turtles Thumbprint Cookies – Mmmmm.

My Favourite 5 Posts of the Last Year:

  1. S’Mores Ice Cream – To celebrate Gastropost’s 100th Mission, I churned up this Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream with a milk chocolate swirl, and graham cracker crust crumble.
  2. Compost Cookies – I finally cracked open my Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook to make these amazing cookies.
  3. Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Squares – These squares are pretty special because they’re the first treat I brought in to my new department. They loved them!
  4. Brioche Buns – My white whale. So happy I conquered this one.
  5. Snickers Brownie Bites – Just love everything about this post. Hi Dwayne!

The highlight of my foodie year was obviously the launch of Baked Occasions, and my trip to NYC for the opening of Baked Tribeca. It was just the most amazing, incredible opportunity, and I love that I got to be a part of it. I won’t go on and on about it again, because you can read 1,000 words on that experience here.

When I started this site 5 years ago, all I wanted was a space to document my baking projects and adventures in the kitchen. I love that I’ve kept it up over the years, and I think the longest I’ve gone without a post is a month! I love that my photos have improved, although I still don’t have the time or patience for that much photography. I love that I now have blogging friends, and not just online but in real life. I love that when I started this blog I had never baked bread, made marshmallows or owned an ice cream maker, and now I’m a bread-baking, marshmallow-making, ice cream-churning machine. I love that my Mom called my Aunt Joan in Nova Scotia to read this post to her over the phone!

I’m excited for this year! I seem to have accumulated a large stack of cookbooks over the past year, so I want to do a deep dive on some of them, and actually make something else out of the Momofuku Milk Bar book. I want to host a few more Gatherings (I know I say that every year). I want to bake more pies, because how can I ever hope to get better at crimping the edges of pie dough if I only make two pies a year? I want to keep up with my Baked Sunday Mornings crew, because that has seriously become my favourite part of blogging in the past year. I want to add to My Favourites, because I still need to document my favourite recipes for Banana Muffins, Chocolate Chip Cookies and many others!

Thanks for reading!