When my husband took this photo, I had just brushed buttercream out of my hair and wiped a confectioners’ sugar explosion off the floor. My daughter helped decorate this sprinkle-loaded 6 inch cake and we’re celebrating something huge!
Milestone.
A significant marker in our lives pinpointing a momentous event. This month, I reached one and I hope you’ll celebrate with me. Afterall, I wouldn’t have reached it without you!!!
In December 2011, I started a food blog that unbeknownst to me would someday host 1,200 recipes used by millions of bakers all over the world. I still cannot wrap my head around it.
I feel I could easily turn this post into a novel with all that has gone into building this career over the past 10 years, but I will keep it short because truly—what I want to convey is just how thankful I am for everyone who bakes, trusts, shares, and enjoys my recipes as well as everyone who helped me get to this point including my absolutely wonderful and mighty SBA team.
When I pressed publish for the first time 10 years ago, I had no idea how much weight that mindless click would hold. My intention was to put cookie recipes in a place for my friends and family to see them, a solution I thought would be easier than emailing recipes to loved ones. I had a full time job and was absolutely not looking for a career change—heck, I had no idea that people even made a career out of food blogging. (It was rare back then.) I took pictures of cookies on paper plates with my fancy new smartphone. I typed vague instructions on my blog, uploaded a photo, and forwarded the link to loved ones. That’s it. That was my food blog. Instagram and Facebook pages were barely new at the time—social media for content creators was in its infant stage. Recipe videos were mostly limited to cooking shows on TV.
So what happened in the past 10 years?
Well, I built a brand from scratch! In 2011, I had never picked up a fancy camera before, never wrote professionally, never owned a business, never managed employees, never wrote a book, and knew nothing about website development. But I had passion and grit—and I believe both are the secrets to entrepreneurial success. I began to build a community who would soon share my recipes with others and before I knew it 1 follower turned into 100 and then 1,000 and then 100,000 and now there are millions of bakers looking at my recipes and sharing heartfelt stories, memories, and traditions based around the content I’ve created.
IT’S SURREAL. THANK YOU.
It’s no secret that baking can spread joy and perhaps it’s become your hobby or an activity when you need to relax or escape. Thank you for making my recipes part of your world.
What’s next? A website refresh & redesign coming in January! Finishing my cookbook proposal so cookbook #4 can happen! Developing quality baking recipes, authoring my blog posts, taking all of my own photography, and managing a trusted and knowledgeable team! These are my professional priorities for (hopefully) more decades to come. But after 10 years of hustling, it feels remarkably rewarding to slow down and reflect on what I’ve created. And without YOU + my supportive family, friends, and team + all of the blogging friends I’ve met along the way, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.
Thank you so much for being here. Bake something delicious today!!!!
Happy Baking xo,
Sally
Congratulations, Sally! I love your blog, and your website is where I go first when I’m looking for a recipe. I have made dozens of your recipes, and I know I can always count on them to turn out well!! I am so glad I stumbled upon your site many years ago! Thank you!
Congratulations! Such a great site, everything I’ve tried has turned out really well, definitely my first go to when I’m looking to bake! Wishing you many more successful years ahead as you look back on this milestone.
Congratulations on your success! Enjoy using your website and receiving your emails. Every recipe I have used has been excellent. Keep up the good work.
Congratulations Sally. You have absolutely positively the BEST RECIPES!!!!!!!! My waistline doesn’t thank you but great big thanks from the bottom of my heart and tummy for so much deliciousness. So nice to make people I care about all your goodies! God bless you and your family and keep those recipes coming. Hugs, from a loyal fan.
Leah
Congratulations! Love your recipes and a familiar refrain around our house is it’s from Sally!!
Sally I am a ‘nubby’ to your site; I have learned a lot and will be baking a lot of your recipes; Congrats on 10 years of success and have yourself a very Merry Christmas with more success from 2022 onwards;
Congratulations on 10 years! I am so very proud of you. Like many, I turn to you when I need a good recipe and I am never let down. All the best to you, your team and your family. I invite you to come and bake with me in my little village in SW France.
All the best from Gensac
CONGRATULATIONS .I wish you many more years of happy Adventurous baking! Fyi..I absolutely love the annual Cookie Palooza.
Congratulations Sally! What an enormous Milestone! I feel like I have been following you just about the entire time. Love your recipes and techniques. I always recommend your site to friends. Keep it going!
Congratulations and Happy Anniversary.
Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes and making me a better baker.
My favorite baking blog! Congrats!
Congratulations Sally, you are always my go to for recipes. I enjoy all your cookbooks. You are truly an inspiration to me. Just finished my Christmas cookie baking thanks to you and your yummy recipes. I wish you many more years of success.
Congratulations Love your recipes
May you have many, many more years posting recipes & cooking tips!
HAPPY BAKING
Congratulations! You’re my trusted guide to baking all the goodies that my family loves to eat! Here’s too many more years to come! Thank you for your time and commitment to helping us become better bakers!!!
Congratulations Sally. Love your recipes. It is great when in a Facebook baking group and Sally’s Baking Addiction is mentioned as to where to find the recipe they used. Or when someone asks for a specific recipe and the replay are to look on Sally’s B A. What a compliment to you and your recipes. Thank you so much for doing all the hard work for us.
Congratulations on a decade of helping folks become better bakers ! Best baking site ever ! EVERYTHING I’ve tried has been just wonderful .
Congratulations on a decade of helping folks become better bakers ! Best baking site ever ! EVERYTHING I’ve tried has been just wonderful .
Congrats, great recipes, look forward to more cake/cheesecake recipes in the new year. God bless you and your family, be safe.
Yours are the best of the best! I started reading your blog in 2012. I needed cookies for a bake sale, and in my limited baking skills and abilities, I decided on making your Confetti Cake Batter Cookies. They were a success! I have been making your recipes ever since. My favorites are your Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, and Black Bean Burgers. Now my daughter rushes to your cookbook or site first whenever she wants to bake something. Thank you for sharing your love of baking, your heart, and your family with us. I have learned so so much from you. Happy Blog-iversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!! Happy 10 years, Sally!
Your website is the first place I tuej to when I need that perfect bread, rolls, cake or cookies recipe!
Your Tried and True Honey Butter Rolls are THE best rolls I’ve ever eaten, and my go to for holidays.
Looking forward to seeing what you create in 2022!
You deserve all the success you receive and then some. Your recipes and technique are excellent, and you genuinely care about your bakers. You are much appreciated.
Felicidades Sally!!! Me encantan tus recetas y la forma como las explicas siempre me ayuda para poder hacerlas. Disfruto con mis hijos prepararlas y compartirlas. Estamos celebrando tus diez años desde Puerto Rico y los muchos mas que vendrán.
I have only recently discovered you, your blog, your recipes – and at 73, and considering myself to be a pretty darn decent baker, I am so impressed with and so enjoying everything about you and your work! Huge congratulations!!
Congratulations! And thank YOU! For reliable recipes that make it easy to feel like an excellent home baker. “Oh my gosh, this is so good!” “It’s from Sally’s!”
Congratulations on 10 years! Your recipes have become a staple for me and my family. Thank you for helping my family create new traditions and memories!
Congratulations Sally! I am from Brazil and love your recipes!!! Thank you so much for make us to be a better bakers every day!!! I can’t wait to see what is next! God bless your heart ❤️
CONGRATULATIONS Thank you for 10 years of wonderful tips, recipes and food full of love and fun. I have wonderful memories with my family in the kitchen thanks to your blog.
Yay Congratulations !!! I love your blog and your recipes!!
Best baking blog out there.
Congratulations on this milestone! Your recipes, foolproof instructions, and videos are phenomenal. Toasting your success today.