Tasty Confections

Just a few creations I've taken a stab at recently...

A couple different kinds of potato pancakes (latkas)

The top left one is a regular potato pancake recipe my family has

enjoyed for years, the other two are "confetti" potato pancakes, with

shredded carrot and zucchini mixed in with the potatoes. I enjoyed both,

my family preferred the old recipe, saying the new one was kinda sweet but

still good. We eat them with ketchup on top, but I know some people like

topping with applesauce (which we prefer on the side) or Greek yogurt or

sour cream. We also served them with baked beans and turkey sausage links.

Cranberry-Orange muffins ready to bake Muffins done!

I made an orange glaze to go over half, and topped the other half with streusel. They freeze really well, and then you can just pop a few in the microwave in the morning for 30 seconds for a nice warm treat!

Upside-down Cranberry Coffee Cake

Great use for fresh tart cranberries - a big hit with my younger sister

One of the perks of spending so much time at my parents house is that I have more

taste-testers to try new recipes on

Melanie enjoying one of the cookies I decorated at a fall cookie class

I took my cousins Sara and Christina to. Our cookies weren't the most

beautiful, but we had fun and learned how the technique worked. With all

the holidays coming up I'm sure we'll have opportunities to perfect our skills.

The completed cake from the Wilton Course II class.

All the flowers are made with royal icing, so they are a combined effort

of the first three classes. The final class we learned the basket weave and

rope border, then assembled the flowers and butterflies on the cake and

added in the leaves for the finishing touch.