OH SWEET CHRIST ON A CRACKER; there are so many bad places I could go with the name of this dish.
But I won’t. Because of the children.
OK, who the hell am I kidding? There aren’t any children! But I am presenting to you a sweet treat that every good little girl and good little boy might like on Christmas morning after they’ve gone mad-crazy like a pack of hyenas at the presents under the tree.
This recipe comes from The Dead Celebrity Cookbook by Frank DeCaro. It’s so much fun. I really love it–it was a gift from my other boss Beth (Kate is the one who inspired me with the magic that is Shrimp Sputnik). She earmarked this recipe for me because she knows how much I love Liberace–and how much I want to find an edition of his cookbook, Liberace Cooks!
Too bad that it is out of print and is over $100 on amazon. Sad face.
But this delicious dish was surely included!
I ran home right after work to bake these as a Christmas present to my co-workers.
This was pretty easy. The only items I had to buy were the rum (I do not carry rum in the house!), the whole pecans (I had crushed from something else), the golden raisins (it’s been a long time since raisins made an appearance) and the crescent rolls. I also bought myself a new muffin tin because mine was second hand and looking a little gnarly.
Anyway, here’s a rundown of the production via photos:
And into the oven they went. After 15 minutes (and a tumble onto a wax paper-lined cookie sheet), this was the result:
Liberace’s sticky buns!
And it’s just crescent dough roll in a muffin pin? It’s a tiny miracle!
Well, that’s going a little far. But it is a nice segue into the story of Liberace’s miracle in Pittsburgh.
Long story short: dry cleaning chemicals nearly killed him so he was rushed to the hospital. While he was a patient at St. Francis, a nun told him to pray to St. Anthony. The next day, when he asked if he could thank the nun, the hospital staff told him that no nun like that ever existed.
Read about his miraculous recovery HERE.
I totally believe that Liberace saw a ghost nun. Because nuns are totally freaky. Lucky for him that she was benevolent. I always think about what my great-grandmother, MomJo once said: WHEREVER THERE ARE NUNS, EXPECT THE WORST.
Me? I trust MomJo.
To wrap this up (with a beautiful, sparkly Christmas bow), I’m gonna share with you the entrance video to his 1981 Las Vegas show. Because it is phenomenal.
The fact that the first 3 minutes of this video were not a parody but the real-life-honest-to-goodness-right-hand-up-to-Cher-this-is-what-Liberace-wanted-as-the-entrance-to-his-show’s sequence—
I die. I think that the Interwebs have broken me.
OK, Merry Christmas, kittens! I hope you have a great one. I will see you on the other side after Santa makes his visits.
I am now going to have nightmares of ghost nuns (the fact that I just finished season 2 of American Horror Story does NOT help). Making the buns in a muffin tin is genius! I’m wondering the significance of St Anthony – patron saint of lost children (and car keys!)
Ah,, yes, the places ones mind can go with that name. The end results look divine indeed! Thanks for the video. It. was. FANTABULOUS!! Hope your holidays are as bright and shiny as Liberace’s candleabra(s)!
Those look deelish. Good luck with the hunt for Liberace Cooks! I’ll keep an eye out this side of the border as well 🙂 7 dining rooms? Here’s me thinking I’m a big girl when I move all my son’s accumulated junk to one side of the kitchen table to eat!
I’m gonna have to try those! as for the video… WOW! lol… I remember growing up when my grandparents would be in the hospital they would always be in St Francis and there was a room in the hospital that was called “The Liberace Room” it had a big picture of him in it.
I had no idea about that. Now I have to do research on the Liberace room!
OOoh these look GOOD! My brain is so mushed that for years I’ve been thinking, “I wish we could get crescent roll dough here in the UK” and a few weeks ago I SAW SOME IN A SUPERMARKET. And thought, I must remember that. And now I can’t remember which supermarket it was. But if by the grace of Liberace it comes back to me, I am making some of these! Happy festive season my dear. See you on the flipside for more cooking fun.