I've talked about my love of Amish cookbooks and recipes. And I've posted many Amish recipes on the blog.
I've talked about my extensive collection of Amish and Mennonite cookbooks that I buy at the annual MCC Sale )Mennonite Central Conference) in Kansas.
We'll be attending the sale this year the weekend of April 10th. We look forward to it each year.
We get together with family and we all attend the sale. I like to buy cookbooks at the sale.
In keeping with my love for Amish cooking I've added more traditional Amish recipes here.
I've taken the liberty of adapting some of the ingredients and directions to make the recipes more current without compromising the original recipe.
At the end of this page I included a few pictures.
Cranberry Conserve:
4 C fresh cranberries
2 large seedless oranges
1 C roughly chopped raisins
2 C hot water
4 C sugar
1 C roughly chopped pecans
Cut oranges into wedges.
Grind cranberries and oranges in a food grinder or ( pulse in a food processor, a contemporary method)
Put the mixture in a stock pot.
Add the hot water and bring to a boil.
Cook until the fruit is soft.
Add sugar and raisins.
Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until the mixture begins to thicken.
Remove from heat and fold in pecans.
Por into canning jars and keep refrigerated.
Rhubarb Meringue Pie:
1 - 9" unbaked pie shell
3 C diced rhubarb
1 1/2 C sugar
3 TBS flour
1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 eggs, separated
Pour rhubarb into pie shell.
In a small bowl:
sugar
flour
Whisk well
Add egg yolks and lemon juice.
Stir to mix well.
Pour over rhubarb.
Whip the egg whites into a meringue.
Cover the pie with the meringue.
Bake at 435 degrees for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 325 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes.
Sour Cream Raisin Pie:
1 C sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 C roughly chopped raisins
1/8 tsp salt
1 C sour cream
3 eggs, beaten
1 - 9" unbaked pie shell
Combine all ingredients and pour into the pie shell.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 30 minutes more.
Hazelnut Kisses:
2 C sugar
2 C finely chopped hazelnuts
6 egg whites
3 TBS flour
Lightly beat egg whites with a hand mixer.
Add sugar, hazelnuts and flour.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and scoop the batter with a small cookie scoop 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 7 - 8 minutes.
Walnut Rocks:
1 C butter
1 1/2 C brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp hot water
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 C flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 C chopped raisins (I dust a bit of flour on the raisins to keep them from sticking together)
1 C chopped walnuts
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a hand mixer.
Add eggs and beat.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water.
In a separate bowl:
Sift together flour, salt and all of the spices.
Add half of this mixture to the butter mixture to create a dough.
Comine nuts and raisins with the other half of the butter mixture.
Add this to the dough and mix well.
Scoop the dough with a small cookie scoop and drop the cookies 2 inches apart on a parchment paper lined sheet pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes.
Butterscotch Cookies:
1/2 C Crisco
1 C sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 C whole milk
2 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda mixed into the milk.
1 - 12oz. bag of butterscotch chips.
Cream Crisco and sugar until creamy and the sugar is dissolved using either a hand mixer, in a large mixing bowl.
Add eggs and milk (with baking soda)
Mix well and add baking powder.
Fold in butterscotch chips by hand.
Using a small cookie scoop , drop the dough onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan 2 inches apart.
Bake at 400 degrees until the edges are light brown, about 8 - 12 minutes.
Applesauce Loaf Cake:
1 C brown sugar
1/4 C butter
1 C applesauce
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in a little water.
2 C flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves.
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 C raisins
a pinch of salt
In a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar.
Add spices
Add applesauce, flour and baking soda.
Add raisins.
Beat well.
Pour into a loaf pan buttered and floured well or use my Pan Release Mixture (equal parts of Crisco, flour and vegetable oil mixed well and applied with a pastry brush) This is my foolproof method to release anything I bake.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
Pumpkin Loaf Bread:
3 C sugar
1 C vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
A 1 pound can of Pumpkin
3 1/2 C flour
2/3 C water
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, combine:
sugar
oil
eggs
Mix well
Add pumpkin
Add all of the dry ingredients
Add water and stir just until mixed well
Pour the batter into a well buttered and floured loaf pan (or use my Pan Release Mix).
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Serve slices spread with softened cream cheese.
Corn Pudding:
1 can of creamed corn
2 eggs, beaten
2 TBS flour
2 TBS sugar
1 C heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
Butter, softened for the casserole dish.
Heavily butter a casserole dish.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.
Pour into the casserole dish.
Bake at 350 degrees fro 1 hour.
As I was researching and writing these recipes I was reminded that the Amish cook and bake without electricity. When it calls for mixing ingredients, they did it all by hand. I wanted to post a picture of what the Amish would have used as a hand mixer because our recipes refer to a hand mixer as an electric mixer. We still have our mother's "hand" mixers.
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This is an example of the hand mixer
I still have from my grandmother. |
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This is an example of the mixing bowls we collect.
We have many different sizes. |
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We still have all of our family wooden spoons.
Enjoy!
Peace in the Kitchen! |
