Paula Cares


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Paula Cares

By Libbie Summers, Food Editor

All of Paula’s readers/viewer’s comments are of great importance to her. Sadly, she doesn’t get to respond to them all personally, but she tries her best. This comment from Maryann in South Carolina I brought to her attention a few weeks ago because it upset me and I knew she would want to make sure the recipe for Brown Sugar Cookies was right…for Maryann, her daughter, granddaughter and every other cook who might try it.

The Comment:
I just have to tell you this because my daughter, who like so many others, myself included is on a fixed budget. She had to make cookies for her daughter to take to her Daisy troop for a Christmas meeting tonight. Well, I came upon a recipe in your Paula Deen’s Kitchen Classics on page 411 that sounded easy enough for her. It was for Brown Sugar Cookies. Well, to make a long story short…after spending the money on the ingredients…not cheap for the economy as it is today, the cookies were a disaster. I am a great baker and I was quite distressed when she called me to tell me she is horrible at baking and she just can’t bake. I have seen her pies and cakes… she is not horrible… So, I have made Brown Sugar Cookies before so I tried your recipe. It came out just like my daughter’s. Stuck to the cookie sheets, were thin and not at all something you could even describe as a cookie. They were a mess! That recipe is a disaster Paula. I am sorry to ask this, but did you really bake them? They stick to the baking sheet due to the amount of sugar in the recipe and you call for an ungreased baking sheet… Why on earth would you do that? It was like trying to unearth cement. DO YOU REALLY test all recipes and if you do how in the name of all the reindeer on Santa’s Sled DID YOU EVER NOT GET THIN WAFERS AND A BALLED UP MESS with that recipe????? Thank you, Maryann of N. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The Action:
Now the part about how very special Paula is and why I am especially proud to work for her. She had just come off a long run on the road and went straight into taping Season 7 of Paula’s Best Dishes. I tell you this because I know how very tired she was this particular evening. After taping the show and two photo shoots (it was around 9:00 p.m.), I showed her this comment from Maryann. Paula was already in her nightgown and getting ready for bed. She was so worried about Maryann’s problems with the cookies, she asked if I would gather the ingredients up for her and she would make the cookies after I left. She hadn’t made the cookies in years, but felt certain there wasn’t a problem with the recipe. The next morning I arrived at her home to find a box of beautiful Brown Sugar Cookies (half eaten by Michael) and a note from Paula that read:

The Result:
Libbie, Can you contact Maryann and let her know that my cookie recipe turned out fine for me. Tell her the recipe states to bake them on an ungreased cookie sheet. I don’t know how this got past me, because I always bake cookies on greased cookie sheets. Also, can you make sure she used self-rising flour, and creamed her other ingredients well. Those are the only other things I can think that would have potentially gone wrong with the cookies. Can you tell her how sorry I am she and her daughter had a problem with the recipe. I’m especially sorry her granddaughter didn’t have cookies to take to her Daisy Troop meeting. I hope they try it again. Michael loved them. Let’s get a picture to send to her today. Paula


Post Script:
I just got off the phone with Maryann! She is fabulous! She was ingenious enough to make the recipe her own (with the remaining dough). She told me she lined an 8x8 baking dish with parchment and spread the dough out over it. Baked it and cut it into squares for Brown Sugar Bars! Bravo Maryann and thank you again for writing! Paula really cares what you think.

PPS: Picture taken of Paula and the remaining Brown Sugar Cookies shown above AND sent to Maryann with her apologies.

Recipe for Brown Sugar Cookies is from Paula Deen’s Kitchen Classics.

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Reader Comments:

54321

Paula, don't bother about the bug eater. We love you and wish the very best always. He's just crude and jealous of your popularity. Love always, Jackie

By Jackie Ralph on January 19, 2012

54321

Dear Ms. Paula Deen, I hope you get to read this because I want you to know that I started to bake because of you. At 23, I didn't know what to do with my life then I started to watch your show and found my true love (after my son). Now, I'm 24 and I've been baking for about a year or more now with love in my heart. You mean so much to me and I wish I could meet you one day to thank you in person but know that it's never going to happen. I hope the people around you feel blessed to have you in their lives. I know I would. To be with you in the kitchen would be a dream come true. Ms. Paula you are a beautiful, funny, loving person and I just hope one day to bake as good as you. Thank you for being on t.v. and teaching to all of us. Love, Melissa

By Melissa Lavoie on August 15, 2011

54321

Dear Paula Deen, I am writing you with my Mom's permission to tell you how much I love your show and recipes. I love all the recipes you make on your show and race home every day to watch it! You make me smile when you are on. I am a young fan, but help my Mom, Sara, make your recipes. I made up a recipe with some of your ingredients and asked my Mom for help. It was so good. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your show and love your cookbooks which I check out from our local library. I am your littlest biggest fan!!! You are the best cook in the whole wide world besides my Mom. Love, Faith Moyes

By Faith Moyes (8 years old) on May 26, 2011

54321

I use your recipes all the time and I found anything that I didn't like. I am looking for a recipe for toast points and you help me out? Thanks Deb

By Debbie Proctor on April 06, 2011

54321

Paula is my favorite chef and my family and I have appreciated every recipe I've tried; they've become family favorites! I enjoy her bubbly personality and greatly admire her love of family. Aside from Paula's cooking, I was delighted to see the pictures of her newly painted rooms in her magazine's Christmas issue. Paula's casual elegance is the picture of warmth and welcome, and I can hardly wait for pieces of my furniture to wear out so that I can replace them with Paula's line. My question is this, may I ask if there's a resource available to the public for Paula's dining room and living room drapes, please? Thanks so much for your time.

By Zolane on March 13, 2011

54321

Hello Florence, I believe this is the recipe you're looking for: http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/brookes_light_and_lovely_peach_parfaits/ Unfortunately, we cannot recommend frozen peaches. However, if you try this with any success we would love to hear about it!

By Jonathan Able on February 10, 2011

54321

on your show you had a recipe for peach ...... all i got was the last part. you crushed up the pecan sandies you can purchase in the grocery store. add peachess add whip cream. i did not get to hear if there is some type of a sauce that goes with these peaches, will frozen peaches work.. i have your cook books and i love your show. Christmas at the mansion you had the table sat with the same lenox china I have. Wish they were safe for the dishwasher

By Florence Andreano on January 13, 2011

54321

Hi Lynn. The recipe was from Paula Deen's Kitchen Classics. We have added the recipe online, so the link now appears at the end of the article. Lisa Scarbrough Online Community Manager Paula Deen Enterprises

By Lisa the Admin on January 04, 2011

54321

Hi, I don't see the recipe for Brown Sugar Cookies! Am I missing something? I also searched the website and couldn't find anything under "Brown Sugar Cookies". Can you post it? Thanks!

By Lynn on January 03, 2011

54321

Dear,Deen hope you are fine. me pretty good. Im a good mom to my kids,they love for me to cook for them.I really love to bake,cook and do arts and crafts.I got all of that from my dear mom,she pass away 10yrs ago.I really miss her a lot.But just looking at you are like my mom.Thank you for all the recipes you have given me and family.

By patty velasquez on December 21, 2010

54321

I'm a big fan of yours Paula and I belive nothing of what I hear and only half of what I see. Would you care to comment on this recently posted expose? http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101217/ts_yblog_thelookout/undercover-investigation-of-smithfield-foods-reveals-factory-farm-horrors

By Dan Pollock on December 18, 2010

54321

Lisa, I'm sorry to hear that you had a problem with a Paula Deen product. Please contact Meyer's Paula Deen Customer Care Line at 1-888-298-1071 for assistance.

By Lisa the Admin on December 15, 2010

54321

PAULA WE PURCHASED ONE OF YOUR PAN SETS ABOUT 8 MONTHS AGO AND ONE OF THE HANDLES BROKE RIGHT OFF. HOW DO I GET THIS FIXED? I REALLY LOVE THE SET AND WILL BE PURCHASING MORE. WE ALSO HAVE SOME OF YOUR KNIVES. I DVR YOUR SHOWS EVERYDAY I JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH PAULA. LOVE YA AND A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. LISA DUPUIS OF DADE CITY FLORIDA

By Lisa Dupuis on December 15, 2010

54321

so sorry to bother you, but I lost my granny's recipe for cocoa fudge, so I tried your recipe in your Kitchen Classics recipe book for "old time chocolate fudge". Isn't that too much milk? I ended up with chocolate fudge sauce and had to bake a cake for it. My husband suggested it might be some kind of difference about sea level cooking, but all your other recipes that I have tried have worked. Can you check the recipe again and see if it has too much milk or too little cooking time. I thought granny's had us cook to hard ball and beat it 5 minutes. But there was no beating time in your recipe...please help, I want to make this to give for Christmans. Thanks Peggy

By Peggy Morris on December 14, 2010

54321

Dear paula, my name is victor , I currently live in a nursing home,,Im big fan of ur shows i watch u daily.I just love the food n dishes u make on every show u have on the FOOD NETWORK. I'M WRITING i have one request for christms can u send me a basket of spicey sausage ball,,im disbaled n have no family to make them for me,,I've fallen in love with sausage balls over the yrs n I would greatly appreciate if u could make n send me some by or after christmas,,if u could I'd be so pleased to you. sincerely, ur disabled fan victor villegas. p.s sorry about my grammer!lol

By victor villegas on December 12, 2010

54321

I recently purchased a set of you cookware, and I do love it. Wondering, though, if a lid is available for the small fry/saute pan. Thank you, Laurie Weitzer

By Laurie Weitzer on December 12, 2010

Im glad Paula was concerned enough to help the family out. It was really sad to see a mistake happen. But we all know that it does.

By buffy wier on January 17, 2010

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