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I had received the Wilton 18-pc starter set and set out to decorate some cupcakes.

The Wilton cupcake decorating class provided some of their stock White Decorator Icing (stiff consistency). We had to thin it out with 3-4 teaspoons of water to make it usable for the beginner’s designing on the cupcakes.

(Using the #18 star tip to create pull-out stars)

I dyed my frosting with black icing color, imagining that I would get an emo grey. Surprise! I got this awesome purple pictured in my cupcake shots. I’m really excited because this is my favorite shade of purple and I declare that I don’t think I have ever seen it grace a cupcake or cake before. I wonder why.

(Using the #4 round tip for the dots)

Also with the class came this cool little beginner’s cake/frosting decorating book by Wilton. They have some great techniques in there with excellent illustrations that far exceed the little guide that comes in the starter kit. I’m very visual so I require an extended illustrated guide.

(Using the #18 star tip to create rosettes)

It was a ton of fun to make these pretty and yummy cupcakes. I hope to make more cupcakes - and perhaps delve into the realm of cookie decorating soon. The cupcakes themselves were plain vanilla. I want to find a great frosting recipe so that I don’t have to use their frosting pack - it was quick and easy, but you don’t think “yum delicious amazing!” when eating it like some of the other frostings I have made.

I’ve also added a new Decorating set in my Flickr Food collection. Now I can share yummy goodness with friends here and pretty goodness with the world :o)

A lot of food groups on Flickr are pure fluff - just pretty photos of food with no utility beyond the visual. Once in a great while I enjoy looking at food, but more often than not, I’m going to want to reproduce it!

I stumbled upon a a few groups whose premise is that each photo must be accompanied by a recipe or a link to a recipe. It combines my love of looking at delicious food with real life reviews and reproduction ability! Recipes to Share, Cooking (recipe required), The (un)official Flickr cookbook, and Food with Blogged Recipes are all recipe based Flickr groups.

One delight that I found through The (un)official Flickr cookbook is this excellent idea of a Lemon-Ginger cookie:

You can find the recipe at the user’s blog, Coconut & Lime.

View my “food” tagged Flickr items to see more yums that yours truly has made or just plain eaten.

I needed a delicious treat, so I pulled out my trusty favorite pastry cookbook (Biggest Book of Cookies - you will need no other pastry cookbook!) and thumbed through until I found this sweet delight.

I highly recommend this option from the book. I shared it with about 15 people and the average rating was about an 8.5.

The cream cheese frosting really made the treat. Half of a brick of cream cheese, half of a stick of butter, and one teaspoon of vanilla mixed together. The recipe says then to add powdered sugar starting with 1 cup and then adding an additional 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 cups, but I found that about 2 1/2 cups total sufficed for me. Of course add more or stop adding to reach the consistency you like. I think the slight less firm consistency of the frosting is what added to this pastry’s draw.

My mouth is watering just looking at it. Seriously, this bar is amazing. So carrot-cake like, yet retaining the hints of pumpkinish goodness.

Since I’m a cooking newbie, I figured I’d start with something easy to build my confidence. I had never had gingersnaps from scratch before, so here goes:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c.) of butter or margarine
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 2 tsp. baking soda

Directions

1. Mix together the sugar, butter, egg, and molasses.
2. Sift the spices, flour, and baking soda.
3. Mix the two mixtures together.
4. I like to let the dough sit for a couple minutes now - it makes it easier to work with.
5. Take the dough and form into a 1-2 inch ball.
6. Dip one side of dough into sugar. Some recipes say to roll the whole thing, but I find I get sugar overload. One side is good enough.
7. Bake 350° for 15-18 minutes if 2-inch balls, 13-15 minutes if 1-inch. This gives you softer gingersnaps. For crispier gingersnaps, leave in oven until they are nearly (but not quite) firm to the touch.

Obviously the quantity will vary based on cookie size, but if you make 2-inch balls, it’s about 24 cookies.

Yum!