Variety of recipes for melt-away cookies

Recently our daughter Lexie celebrated her fifth birthday. Turning 5 has many exciting events attached to it, starting kindergarten in the fall being the most exciting and getting the dreaded 5-year-old shots to start kindergarten being the least exciting.

We made the trip to the county health department to get her shots, and, bless her heart, she didn't have any idea what was ahead of her. She smiled and laughed at the three Charlie Brown and Snoopy bandages lying on the table in front of her. As the nurse swabbed her little legs with the alcohol pads, I'm sure Lexie was wondering why she was doing that, then all too quickly she knew. With all three shots she said "ow, ow, ow!" and she never shed a tear.

I was so proud of her for being such a big girl. After we left I told her I would make her a special dinner that evening and she could have whatever she wanted. I was not expecting her to say rice as her first choice for her special dinner. Then she quickly added shrimp. And so, in her honor, we had rice pilaf and shrimp, and she loved every bit of it.

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Several weeks ago we had a request for melt-a-way cookies from Ruth Ann Ford of Cape Girardeau. After searching, there are many different kinds of cookies that bear this name. Following are a few recipes, and if this was not what you were looking for, please let me know.

Melt-Aways I

2 pounds white chocolate, chopped

2 cups peanut butter

2 cups crispy rice cereal

2 cups peanuts, unsalted

2 cups marshmallows, mini-sized

Put chocolate and peanut butter in shallow pan and place in preheated 200 degree oven to melt completely. Cool slightly. Add rice cereal and peanuts and mix. When cool, add marshmallows and mix. Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper to set. Store in cookie tin.

The next recipe I have always called Mexican wedding cakes, but the submitting person calls them melt-a-ways.

Melt-Aways II

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine butter, confectioners' sugar and vanilla in mixing bowl. Sift flour and salt together and gradually stir into butter mixture. Stir in chopped pecans. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until peaks are very light brown, about 7 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack. While still warm (but not hot), use a sifter to sprinkle generously with confectioners' sugar.

Melt-Away Butter Cookies

1 1/4 cups butter, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Few drops liquid food coloring

To make chocolate-tipped butter-cookies:

12 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels

1 tablespoon shortening

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

Cream butter, gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour, and mix well. Stir in flavorings and food coloring, if desired. Use a cookie gun to shape dough as desired, following the manufacturer's instructions. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Store in airtight containers, placing wax paper between each layer. Yield about 7 dozen (2-inch) cookies.

For chocolate-tipped butter cookies: Melt together semisweet chocolate morsels and shortening. Dip half of each prepared butter cookie in chocolate mixture. Roll chocolate-dipped portion in finely chopped pecans. Place cookies on wire racks until chocolate is firm.

Note that melt-away butter cookies call for a cookie gun to shape the dough.

With a cookie gun, you can stamp out a wide variety of perfectly shaped cookies in a minimum of time, making this piece of equipment a practical investment for someone who does a lot of baking and entertaining. You'll find both electric and hand-pump models of cookie guns available in most kitchen shops or department stores. Most are constructed so that you can make mints, cheese straws, and canapes as well as cookies. Since the models differ in construction, follow the specific manufacturer's directions for assembling and loading the gun.

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We are still in the season of Lent and for a change from traditional fried fish you might like to try this delicious Cajun variety of shrimp sent in by Jodi Thompson of Jackson, Mo.

Not being from the religious faith that practices eating fish on Fridays, I have to tell you a quick story on my sister Pat. She came by our home a week ago Friday afternoon and we discussed what we might do for dinner that evening. She commented that she had been hungry for fish or seafood. She suggested we drive through and get carry out from a local fast food fish and seafood restaurant. Our parents came over and off she and I went to just "pick it up" and bring it home. As we approached the restaurant, we both realized it was Lent and the line was very long. We decided to wait and we had a wonderful 40-minute visit together. We laughed and talked and the time went quickly for us. When we returned to our home, the others waiting for us to arrive seemed worried of our long absence just to run and get carry out dinner. Live and learn, but we still had fun.

Cajun Fried Shrimp

12 large shrimp

Cajun spice

2 cups canola oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup milk

2 large eggs

1/2 pound yellow cornmeal

1/2 pound all-purpose flour

Peel shrimp leaving tail and one section of shell on shrimp. De-vein shrimp by slicing them halfway through the back and remove vein. Rinse shrimp after de-veining. Open to form butterfly. Beat eggs and milk together. Add buttermilk. Mix well. Combine yellow cornmeal and flour. Coat shrimp with Cajun spice. Dip shrimp in egg and milk mixture. Bread shrimp with cornmeal and flour mixture. Heat canola oil in medium frying pan. When oil reaches 350 degrees, fry shrimp for about 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown. Yield: 2 servings.

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Change your mind about the difficulty of making lasagna with this lasagna recipe, which you can whip together for the neighborhood basketball team in the fourth quarter with time to spare.

Using cheese ravioli instead of traditional lasagna noodles condenses three steps into one: You don't have to boil the noodles or mix and layer the filling. Just build, bake, and serve.

10-Minute Lasagna

26-ounce jar pasta sauce

30-ounce bag frozen large cheese ravioli, unthawed

10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

8-ounce bag shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with cooking spray and spoon in a third of the sauce. Arrange 12 ravioli on top and scatter the spinach over them. Top with half of each cheese. Cover with another layer of ravioli and the remaining sauce and cheese. Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 to 10 minutes more or until bubbly.

My friend Carole Boguslawski is visiting in town from New Mexico and a trip to Missouri must include blueberry or blackberry pie for her. Making the pie is no problem for her, but getting the fruit is. What we buy in gallon pails here, she is forced to buy in small half-pint containers in New Mexico. So while she is here I will have to make her a fresh pie to enjoy.

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Next week we will address the request for tamales. From the request that was in the paper a few weeks ago, I have received three recipes, all of which are about three or four pages long. So it will be difficult so summarize those down to a shorter version, but I will give it a try.

So until next time, happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan is administrator at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center. Send recipes to her at smcclanahan@semissourian.com or by mail at P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701. Recipes published have not been kitchen-tested by the Southeast Missourian staff.