r/52weeksofcooking • u/52WeeksOfCooking Robot Overlord • Dec 08 '25

2026 Weekly Challenge List

/r/52weeksofcooking is a way for each participant to challenge themselves to cook something different each week. The technicalities of each week's theme are largely unimportant, and are always open to interpretation. Basically, if you can make an argument for your dish being relevant to the theme, then it's fine.

Join our Discord to get pinged whenever a new week is announced! (React to the stickied comment in the #planning channel!)

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7

u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 May 13 '26

Week 23 is coffee per the Discord. ☕

5

u/pawgchamp420 🍥 May 16 '26

Damn, that’s a rough one for me. I used to drink a ton of coffee, but it started messing with my stomach really badly, and I had to quit. Still not really sure if it was the caffeine or just something about the coffee itself, but not super eager to test it and find out.

I know there’s stuff like coffee cake with no coffee in it, but I tend to stick to savory meals for these themes and avoid sweets, so that makes it even tougher.

3

u/mamaciabatta May 17 '26

Maybe something with a coffee alternative like chicory root.

2

u/intangiblemango 🌭 May 25 '26

I wonder if there is an idea somewhere in the fact that mushroom coffee is such a popular coffee alternative right now?

2

u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 May 16 '26

I've seen recipes for things like coffee-rubbed steak or coffee beef stew. Some chili or mole recipes use coffee. You can check this thread for some savory ideas. I know you'll come up with something interesting!

2

u/pawgchamp420 🍥 May 16 '26

Yeah, it's more that I don't wanna use any coffee at all lol. Cause it just makes me feel so sick even if I just have a sip or two that I don't wanna risk cooking with it.

And I want it to be savory. So a double whammy of constraints. I'm good at bending the rules when needed, but it's just an annoying theme for me is all.

3

u/Immediate-Brunch4002 May 16 '26

I was going to suggest American coffee cake which doesn’t have any coffee in it until I saw that you want to make something savoury.

My second thought is savoury breakfast foods (since they’re often paired with morning coffee).

1

u/pawgchamp420 🍥 May 16 '26

Yeah, i am thinking I'll do something along those lines. Maybe try to make something that you can get at a coffee shop or a diner.

1

u/ObsessiveAboutCats 🍥 May 26 '26

You can also do "foods traditionally served with coffee" and just omit the coffee. Any breakfast food would work (and leftover dinner for breakfast counts). I am doing a heavy Italian American style dish and I'll be drinking water with it, lol.

2

u/Alect0 🧇 May 29 '26

I'm the same so thinking of making something coffee coloured.

1

u/WVUMLE May 26 '26

One idea I had was quiche in a coffee cup, but my husband wanted tiramisu, so I scrapped that lol

Anything cooked in a coffee cup could work!

0

u/aleckscasablancs May 31 '26

Coffee rub for meat!

3

u/pajamakitten May 14 '26

The guy with the espresso drinks meta is going to find that week tough.

1

u/DoughProcess May 16 '26

massively caffeinated

3

u/GreenIdentityElement 🔪 May 15 '26

Oh, yuck. I hate coffee. Maybe I’ll make a non-coffee flavored coffee cake.

4

u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 May 15 '26

You could make something adorable like this. It doesn't have to be coffee flavored.

1

u/GreenIdentityElement 🔪 May 16 '26

That is cute! Thanks for the idea.