Butter Pecan Cheesecake with Chocolate Glaze People loved this dessert and it looked like something made at a fancy bakery. I was shocked that something I made looked this professional. This one definitely had a WOW reaction from the look of the cheesecake and the taste was great.

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting Outstanding - this is a huge winner and delivers big results without a ton of effort. I followed people's suggestions and doubled the vanilla and cinnamon, used 15 oz of pumpkin and added in the nutmeg and ginger. I also made them smaller so my yield was 60 cookies. It was a really nice size so people could try a few different desserts.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies Fantastic! I made Red Velvet Cupcakes from scratch and these Red Velvet Whoopie Pies for an event and fully expected my "foodie" friends to rave about the scratch cupcakes rather than the Whoopie Pies (they were so much easier and I felt like I was taking a shortcut by using cake mix, pudding and marshmallow creme vs. scratch ingredients). Interestingly, it was unanimous - the Red Velvet Whoopie Pies were the HUGE hit. I made them smaller than the recipe called for, but made extra filling -- and they still felt large. I think next time I will make them even smaller (like sandwich cookies) and stick with a more generous portion of filling. I didn't use the berries, but can tell you the outside was moist and flavorful and the inside was yummy!