A Celebrity in the Family

I have been anxiously waiting for this week's Foodie Friday, hosted by Gollum at Designs by Gollum. My excitement is not because I created or discovered some grand new recipe that I'm dying to share. Heck, LBeau has been out of town this week, so I've hardly cooked unless you count stirring up some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Even when he's in town, I all too often get lost on the computer and then have to scramble (sometimes it's eggs) to put something on the table for dinner.

Earlier this week I learned that my SIL Susie has been published in Paula Deen's Best Desserts which recently hit the newsstand. Susie first submitted her recipe for Butter Meltaways with Pink Frosting shortly after her son Wes' wedding in February of 2006. Future DIL Kate had thought it would be a neat idea to have Susie, her own mother Sarah, and herself each bake a favorite cookie for the wedding guests to take home as favors. With the help of her friends, Susie made 1,000 Butter Meltaways. Kate made chocolate chip cookies, and Sarah's contribution was gingersnap cookies.

Sometime after the wedding Susie learned that the recipe had been published in Paula's magazine when she got a phone call from Wes. He told her that one of his friends had told him about the recipe being in the magazine, and then he said, "I just want you to know it was my wedding too."

It seems that when Susie submitted the recipe to Paula she said that she had made them for her daughter-in-law's wedding reception. Well, what could she say to poor Wes except that it's all about the bride and the dress anyway. The magazine also said that Susie is from Little Rock instead of Conway. Susie says that back in 2006 nobody had ever heard of Conway, and Little Rock is only 30 miles away. Now, of course, Kris Allen and American Idol have put Conway on the map.

So now Paula has reprinted the recipe for her Best Desserts special edition. Once again she notes that Susie and her friends made the cookies for her DIL's wedding reception and once again Susie is "from Little Rock, Arkansas." Oh well, it's still nice to be published.

Now if you want to read the blurb about Susie, just head out to your favorite newsstand and shell out the $8.99 for Best Desserts. Ouch! I was hoping to find it at Barnes & Noble so that I could use my discount, but I had to buy it at Fresh Market. Too late I found out today from Susie that she got it at TJ Maxx for $6.

Susie's sister Ann said, "Congratulations, but are you worth $8.99 when I have the original recipe from the Armstrong Elementary cookbook?"

If you just want the recipe for Butter Meltaways, then here it is.

Butter Meltaways with Pink Frosting

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup plus 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, divided
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 1 drop red food coloring

In a large bowl, combine flour, butter, cornstarch, and 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Separate dough into 4 equal parts, and roll each into a smooth log. Wrap each log in parchment paper. Chill dough for at least 6 hours. Remove from refrigerator, and let stand for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

Slice dough in 1/4-inch-thick slices, and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

In a medium bowl, combine remaining 1 cup confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, and food coloring. Beat at low speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Pipe or dollop a small amount of frosting on top of cooled cookies. Makes about 8 dozen cookies.