You start with a stick of butter...

I made cookies this week for my students. They were those no-bake cookies; one of my students recognized them immediately and said "cow pies"! She meant it joyfully, which is probably about the only time one would say "cow pies" joyfully, when talking about a cookie that looks, well, kind of like a cow pie. But they are yumm-o! And of course, the recipe statrts with.... a stick of butter.

One of the other professors in my department has been sneaking into my office to get cookies between classes. She's a cute, tiny little thing and when I told her the cookies had oatmeal and peanut butter, I guess she thought they sounded kind of healthful. She's not a Southern girl; she eats granola and yogurt for breakfast. Anyway, then she asked for the recipe. Warning: if you are into health food,  never ask the chubby, middle-aged Southern woman who loves to cook for a recipe. It will always start with.... a stick of butter.

Or two. My recipe for cheese straws starts with two sticks of butter and pretty much goes downhill from there. They taste just wonderful, though. Had a man tell me this year  he dreamed of my cheese straws every time he knew he was going to see me! Every Southern girl worth a grain of salt MUST, absolutely MUST have a recipe for cheese straws. Mine don't really look like straws -- more like wafers -- but I can't help calling them cheese straws. Someday, when I have a chef's kitchen and time to really perfect the recipe, I'll learn to make them in proper straw format and sell them in cute little tins in stores where the word "butter" is uttered only as a whispered word they dare not speak aloud for fear it might contain (gasp!) calories.

A friend is coming to visit tomorrow for the weekend, and as I leaf through my Holy Handwritten Recipe Book (key the angel chorus music) I think I'll be cooking light. We'll have a triple berry cobbler. The recipe only calls for... half a stick of butter!