The Homestyle Amish Kitchen Cookbook (28 page)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God
.

R
OMANS
12:2

Lord, Your words are sweeter than honey to me. Through Your precepts I gain understanding. Help me to not stray from the righteous path You have set before me and teach me Your judgments that I might live according to Your Word. As I place my hope in You, Lord, my heart rejoices. How sweet are Your words to me!

Amish Cottage Cheese Custard Pie

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup cottage cheese

½ tsp. salt

½ cup milk

½ cup heavy cream

1 unbaked pie shell

cinnamon

Beat together the sugar, eggs, and cottage cheese until very creamy. Stir in salt. Finally, add the milk and cream and stir to blend. Pour into the pie shell and sprinkle generously with cinnamon.

Bake at 450° for 25 minutes or until set in the middle.

Amish women have their babies in the hospital, in birthing centers with midwives, and at home. When a
schnuck buply
(cute baby) is born, a
maut
, or hired girl, will stay at the home for up to six weeks to help the new mother, taking care of the home and other family members.
Mauts
are often teenage cousins or younger sisters of the new mom, and even though they are quite young, they are well able to keep the household running smoothly.

Amish Date and Oatmeal Cake

1 cup boiling water

2 cups quick-cooking oats

¾ cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1½ cups dates, finely chopped

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1 tsp. grated orange rind

½ cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. allspice

In a large mixing bowl, pour boiling water over the oats and mix well; allow to cool slightly. Blend in the butter, brown sugar, eggs, dates, pecans, and orange rind.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice and mix into the oat batter.

Pour the batter into a greased 8-inch square pan and bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until done (the cake will shrink away slightly from the sides of the pan). Cool to warm, cut into squares, and serve plain, with vanilla ice cream, or with whipped cream.

Amish No-Bake Cookies

½ cup butter

½ cup milk

2 cups sugar

3 T. unsweetened baking cocoa

½ cup peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. salt

3 cups quick-cooking oats

½ cup pecans, chopped

In a small saucepan, combine the butter, milk, sugar, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, stirring, and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, vanilla, and salt. Mix in the oats and pecans.

Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Store in a container with a tight-fitting lid with waxed paper between the layers.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

2¼ tsp. (1 package) active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

3 cups flour, divided

3 cups sugar, divided

3 cups warm milk, divided

Do not use metal bowls or utensils
.

Day 1

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes.

In a 2-quart glass, plastic, or ceramic container, or in a gallon freezer bag, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly so when the milk is added the flour won’t be lumpy. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and the yeast mixture. If you are using a gallon freezer bag, seal tightly and squish the bag until thoroughly mixed. If using a bowl, once it’s thoroughly mixed, cover loosely. Leave this mixture on a counter; do not refrigerate during the process of fermentation.

Days 2-4

Stir starter with a wooden spoon or squish bag daily. If you are using a bag, you can open the top to let out the air bubbles that will develop. (Sometimes I do this several times a day if there seems to be a lot of air inside the bag.)

Day 5

Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Stir or squish bag until everything is well incorporated.

Days 6-9

Stir starter with a wooden spoon or squish bag daily.

Day 10

Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Remove 2 cups starter to make your bread (recipe follows), divide the remainder into 1-cup portions to give to friends along with a copy of this recipe, or store excess in the refrigerator and begin the 10-day process over again.

Once you have made the starter, you will consider it Day 1 so you will ignore step 1 in this recipe and proceed directly to step 2. You can also freeze the starter in 1-cup measures for later use. Frozen starter will take at least 3 hours at room temperature to thaw before using.

Amish Friendship Bread

1 cup starter

⅔ cup oil

3 eggs, beaten

½ cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 large package vanilla instant pudding mix

nuts, optional

raisins, optional

dates, optional

cinnamon sugar

In a large nonmetallic bowl, mix together the starter, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla instant pudding mix. Stir into the starter mixture and mix well. At this point, you can add nuts, raisins, or dates—use about 1 cup total.

Grease 2 loaf pans and sprinkle the bottoms liberally with a cinnamon and sugar mixture. Pour the batter into the loaf pans and sprinkle the top of bread also with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in loaf pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

The Amish work from sunrise to sundown. When everyone else changes to daylight savings time, the Amish don’t bother—this is “slow” time.

Amish Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup oil

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cream of tartar

4½ cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

Combine sugars, butter, and oil and beat well. Add eggs and vanilla and beat again. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually add, mixing well after each addition.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake at 350° for about 8 minutes or until done.

Amish Vanilla Pie

1 egg

1 T. flour

½ cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup molasses or sorghum

1 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. mace

¼ tsp. salt

1 unbaked pastry shell

Crumb Topping (recipe follows)

In a medium saucepan, beat the egg until frothy. Blend in flour and add brown sugar, molasses, water, vanilla, mace, and salt. Mix well. Over medium heat, bring mixture just to full rolling boil, stirring often. Remove mixture from heat and set aside to cool and thicken slightly.

Place the pie plate with unbaked pastry on an oven rack. Pour filling into shell. Sprinkle Crumb Topping over the top of filling.

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until top is a deep golden brown. If the pastry starts browning too quickly, protect pastry edge with foil.

The filling will be a bit soft. Cool completely before cutting.

Crumb Topping

1 cup flour

½ cup brown sugar, packed

1 tsp. vanilla

½ tsp. cream of tartar

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. mace

¼ tsp. salt

¼ cup cold butter

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, vanilla, cream of tartar, baking soda, mace, and salt. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbles.

This is a variation of Shoo-Fly Pie
.

The Amish do have mirrors in their homes, but they are usually quite small. If they have a larger mirror hung on a wall, it is often half covered with a piece of fabric, such as a small curtain. This ensures modesty and helps one resist the temptation to look at their reflection too often.

Amish Wedding Nothings

1 egg

¾ cup cream

pinch of salt

2-3 cups flour

shortening or lard for deep frying

powdered sugar for sprinkling

Beat the egg and then stir in the cream, salt, and enough flour to make a stiff dough. Divide the dough into 7 balls and roll each ball flat and very thin. Cut three 2-inch slits through the middle of the circle of dough.

Heat the shortening in a deep fryer to 365°. Fry one piece at a time, turning over with two forks when it turns a light golden color.