I won! I won!

The fabulous Jessie of cakespy.com ran a contest recently, the "entry fee" for which was to name your favorite Thanksgiving dessert and Christmas cookie. I shared the Butterscotch Pumpkin pie I blogged about before and a favorite Snickerdoodle recipe. I was thrilled to learn that I won a copy of Elisa Strauss's new cookbook, Confetti Cakes for Kids. (Incidentally, Elisa keeps a blog that features her travels and the stunning cakes she creates at her New York bakery.)

Even though kids (especially those of an age to need very elaborate cakes) are a ways off for us, the cookbook is still quite handy. It includes recipes for royal icing and several flavors of buttercream (and fondant, but making my own fondant is still a bit advanced for me, I think), as well as a handful of cake and cookie recipes that Elisa recommends both for their taste and their utility in sculpting and decorating. She gives step-by-step tutorials for a ton of decorating techniques that will be very useful, even if I never make any of the particular designs included in the book. I enjoyed reading through the book this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to employing some of the things I learned in decorating Christmas cookies this year.