Dolly Parton unveils cookbook for charity

‘Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s’ will support her project to buy books for kids

Rene Macura / AP

Dolly Parton waves at the release of a new DVD edition of her movie "Nine to Five."

updated 11:12 a.m. ET April 14, 2006

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. - Dolly Parton knows how to whip up a tasty banana pudding, and the singer explains how to make the dessert and more than 125 other recipes in a new cookbook to raise money for her Imagination Library.

Advance sales for “Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s” began last week, and people who buy the cookbook will enter to win a backyard barbecue and bluegrass festival with Parton as a special guest, Dollywood Foundation officials said.

All proceeds from the cookbook will go to Parton’s Dollywood Foundation, which supports the Imagination Library. The program, which provides a free book a month for children from birth to age 5, has been established in 42 states since it began in 1996.

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Parton’s cookbook features recipes from her mother, Avie Lee Parton, and her mother-in-law, “Mama” Ginny Dean, as well as Dollywood restaurants and the Dixie Stampede Dinner and Show. It also includes recipes inspired by restaurant dishes she discovered while touring over the last 40 years.

The cookbook will be sold only at Dollywood and Dixie Stampede in Pigeon Forge, Branson, Mo., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., and online on several Web sites.

“Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s” must be purchased by Sept. 1 for buyers to qualify for the barbecue with Dolly prize.