The local foods I love best aren't really things I'd make at home.
Paczki are huge here this time of year. I've made them once, from a recipe poorly translated from Polish, and then decided that it makes far more sense to support our local bakery instead.
Coney island 'chili' for Coney dogs is another Detroit classic, but trust me, you really don't want to think to much about what is in it. Hint: we call it chili but there are no tomatoes. Lafayette Coney does it best but National Coney Island is all over the place around here and ships anywhere in the continental US for folks who have left the area but still get a craving every now and then.
And then there is Detroit-style pizza. I have a good crust recipe that comes out about right, but haven't invested in the sort of heavy baking pan that would let me properly do the toppings-to-the-edge/crispy cheese and crust. So again, it is something that I order out when I'm in the mood for it.
Pasties are really the only iconic Michigan food I've sort of mastered making at home (only sort-of because I usually cheat with store-bought crust). They're like a pot pie crossed with an empanada - meat, potatoes, rutabaga and onion folded into a pie crust, served with the gravy on the side rather than in the filling. Delicious but really an Upper Peninsula thing, I started making them because the store-bought ones in my area leave off the rutabaga and they just aren't quite the same without it. The recipe I use came from a post card I bought in a tourist shop in St. Ignace, and it really does taste like the "real thing" you get up there.