The Best Bites of 2024 (Recipe Edition)

Female Foodie Friday Vol. 12

If you caught Female Foodie Friday last week, then you saw the absolute best things I ate at restaurants for all of 2024. It was quite the year.

But this week’s newsletter is different.

These are the very best things I cooked in 2024. And I cooked a TON this past year. Most of the food I ate was a home run, but the recipes I’m sharing here were the grand slams.

Consider adding these recipes to your to-do list for 2025.

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WINTER

Winter is my least favorite season, so it’s no wonder I’d bake this delicious, gorgeous (and easy!) flourless chocolate torte to quell my winter blues. BTW, this is a fantastic dessert when you want something that looks impressive but doesn’t require too much effort.

Sirloin steak tacos brought some flair to our never-ending rainy “winter” days. And making endless focaccia is never a bad idea, especially when you’re not shy with the flake salt and extra virgin olive oil.

SPRING

I didn’t cook a ton in the spring. We were in Italy for 7 weeks and at a lot of incredible restaurants, but during the last little bit of our stay, we did a beach vacation to Sicily where I learned how to make incredible authentic Sicilian dishes (read: a 7-course Sicilian meal filled with seafood and incredible local dishes like caponata). I’m filing this memory in major life highlights because it was so authentic and so good (if you ever need a cooking instructor in the Palermo/Mondello area of Sicily please let me know).

SUMMER

Summertime came and we grilled our hearts out. Our grilled Thai bbq chicken thighs were easily my most made recipe this summer. The incredibly simple and flavor-packed marinade with garnishes of chopped peanuts and cilantro added the perfect amount of visual pop and textural flair. It goes with practically everything from white rice to grilled corn or served alongside hotdogs and cold watermelon.

I also revisited our fried chicken salad more than once this summer and oh, do I love this salad. Homemade fried chicken is a dish that I feel is worth its slightly more labor-intensive methodology, and when you pair it with crispy greens, pickled onions, and a homemade ranch dressing it’s just simply TDF. By the way, if I could only make 5 different salad recipes for the rest of my life, this would be one of them.

Gardening isn’t my forte, but I did keep a small herb and tomato garden for a few months. We had more Sungolds than anything, and although they’re probably not your first choice, they make FANTASTIC grilled cheese sandwiches. Simply slice them in half with a serrated knife, and pair with fresh mozzarella, EVOO, balsamic vinegar, and fresh basil on crust sourdough. Yum. And speaking of tomatoes, this tomato peach salad was beautiful, easy to make, and seriously divine. I’m already counting down until I can make it next summer.

I made my mom’s raspberry cream cheese cinnamon rolls on the 4th of July, (which is one of the best ways to take this classic comfort food and make it feel bright and summery) and I developed the best Cherry hand pie recipe and didn’t mind hand-pitting fresh, juicy cherries for the incredible end result (pro tip: force the pits through a straw for the fastest, most pain-free method!).

And of course, it’s never summertime without making my friend Caroline’s fresh peach pie. It’s ALWAYS a hit no matter who I make it for.

I know this isn’t a recipe, but picking berries is one of our absolute highlights each summer. We eat as many as we can fresh, then freeze the rest to use all winter long. Columbia Farms U-Pick has been our go-to since moving here. They have the best selection and the most plump, juicy berries ever.

FALL (+ the end of the year)

Fall is when I turn back to all things comfort food. My chocolate chip oatmeal coconut cookies were simple and so deliciously satisfying (the combo of oats + coconut + chocolate chips cannot be beat).

I launched The Foodletter in October (holllla!) and the first recipe I published was one I had been testing for months—an easy, 30-minute chickpea curry that’s flavorful and a total crowd-pleaser.

We made lots of homemade pizza on our Ooni and still go back to this recipe and this sourdough version over and over. PS if you have an Ooni or another pizza oven yourself and want more tips on making great pizza at home, be sure to check out this Instagram highlight I made a year or two ago, and check out this podcast episode I recorded with Ken Forkish (the pizza & bread king himself) where he drops some amazing tips on this topic as well.

Hosting Friendsgiving for the first time ever was a huge highlight for me. I’ve been dreaming of doing something like this for a few years now and it filled my cup and then some. It was great to finally document our smoked turkey recipe after making it for almost 10 years, and one of my personal favorite pies that I make every year is this Tupelo honey chocolate pecan pie. It’s easy and so flipping delicious.

I ended the year making one of the recipes I’m most proud of for all of 2024, which was the chocolate olive oil cake. It took several attempts to convert our viral olive oil cake into something with a life of its own, but I’m tremendously happy with the end result.

What I’m hoping to make in 2025

This year is already off to a great start. I shared a red pesto recipe that I’ve been working on for months, and have lots of fun recipes in the works. Here’s a little snapshot of some of them (listen to this podcast episode for a full list of things I’m hoping to make this year):

• Pain au Chocolat

• Chinese dumplings

• Mexican tamales

• Julia Child’s Tarte Tatin

What are YOU hoping to make in 2025? Any recipes or menu items you’ve been wanting to make in your own kitchen? I’d love to hear.