The Homestyle Amish Kitchen Cookbook (31 page)

1 lb. light brown sugar

6 eggs

4 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp. baking powder

2 T. nutmeg

½ cup orange juice

3 cups chopped pecans

1 lb. pale yellow seedless raisins

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, 2 at a time, and beat until very light and mixture doesn’t look grainy (takes about 20-25 minutes total). Sift together the flour, baking powder, and nutmeg. Add gradually to the creamed mixture and beat until well blended. Stir in the orange juice or blend in using lowest speed on mixer. Fold in the pecans and raisins.

Pour the cake batter into a 10-inch tube pan that has been greased and floured.

Bake at 300° for 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Then turn the pan over and let cake slip out gently. Cool completely. Wrap tightly and store for at least a week before serving because it tends to be crumbly when fresh.

Every year my father would buy handmade fruitcake from the Trappist monks. I knew it was meant to be a special treat, but I didn’t care for it. After many years I found the courage to tell my father, and he laughed and said he didn’t like fruitcake either, but he felt Christmas wouldn’t be complete without it. Fortunately, Christmas Cake makes a great, tasty stand-in for the more traditional recipe
.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2¼ cups flour, sifted

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. baking powder

Thoroughly cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again well.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix together thoroughly and chill at least 2-3 hours.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough ⅛-inch thick and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 325° for about 8-10 minutes. If your oven is too hot, even just a little, the cookies will brown too quickly around the edges.

Cool completely and then frost as desired.

An old timer is someone who remembers when charity was a virtue—not an organization.

Coffee Cake

1¼ cups flour

½ cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ cup milk

1 egg, beaten

3 T. butter, melted and cooled

Topping

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup chopped nuts

1 T. flour

1 T. softened butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix together the milk, egg, and butter. Pour the milk mixture all at once into the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Pour batter into a greased 8-inch square baking pan.

Mix together the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the top of the batter.

Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 20-25 minutes.

Crackletop Molasses Cookies

4 cups flour

2 T. unsweetened baking cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. cloves

½ tsp. salt

¾ cup butter, softened

1¼ cups sugar, divided

1 cup molasses

Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses. Gradually add flour mixture and beat just until mixed. Divide dough in half. Pat each half into a flattened 1-inch-thick round. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 375° and lightly grease cookie sheets. Form tablespoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls; roll in remaining ¼ cup sugar. Place one inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute before removing cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Bars

⅓ cup butter

1 cup sugar, divided

1½ cups graham cracker crumbs

3 8-oz. packages cream cheese

4 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1 can blueberry pie filling (or a quart jar of home-canned pie filling)

In a saucepan, heat the butter and ¼ cup of the sugar until melted, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add graham
cracker crumbs. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 × 13-inch baking pan.

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in remaining sugar (¾ cup). Add eggs one at a time, blending after each addition. Add vanilla and blend well.

Spoon blueberry pie filling over crust. Carefully pour cream cheese mixture over blueberry filling.

Bake until set, about 45 to 60 minutes. Chill and then cut into squares.

Cream Puffs

1 cup water

½ cup butter

1 tsp. sugar

¼ tsp. salt

1 cup flour, sifted

4 eggs

whipped cream

Heat the water, butter, sugar, and salt to a full rolling boil in a large saucepan. Add the flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a thick, smooth ball that leaves the sides of the pan clean, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition with wooden spoon, or until paste is shiny and smooth. Shape into puffs and bake at 425° for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 375° and bake for 5 more minutes. Cut a slash in the lower side of each puff and continue baking for 10 minutes or until puffs are firm, dry to the touch, and golden brown. Cool on a wire rack; cut tops off, fill with sweetened whipped cream, place tops back on top of the whipped cream, and serve.

Easy Coconut Macaroons

2⅔ cups shredded coconut

⅔ cup sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp. vanilla

In large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls one inch apart on a well-greased cookie sheet, pressing down the ends of coconut that stick up with the back of a spoon.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. Cool on rack.

Fresh Peach Pie

2 cups sliced fresh peaches

1 T. lemon juice

¼ cup sugar

3 T. cornstarch

2 tsp. butter

small pinch of salt

½ tsp. vanilla

1 9-inch pie shell, baked and cooled

Sprinkle peaches with lemon juice and sugar; let stand one hour. Drain and reserve liquid; there should be 1 cup syrup. Place syrup in a medium saucepan and add the cornstarch and mix well. Cook over low heat until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add butter, salt, and vanilla. Cool.

Place the peaches in the baked pie shell. Pour the cooled syrup over the peaches. Chill. Pipe with sweetened whipped cream or serve with vanilla ice cream.

Funeral Pie

1 double-crust pie pastry, unbaked

2 cups raisins

2 cups water, divided

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

3 T. cornstarch

1½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. allspice

pinch of salt

1 T. cider vinegar

3 T. butter

Line a pie pan with half the pastry and set in refrigerator to chill.

Place the raisins and
⅔
cup of the water in a saucepan and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Combine sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a bowl and, while constantly mixing, slowly add the remaining water. Add this mixture to the heating raisins. Cook and stir this until the mixture begins to bubble. Add the vinegar and butter and heat just until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool a bit. Pour into the prepared pie shell and top with the second crust.

Bake for 25 minutes at 400° or until golden. The pie will set up more as it cools.

Funeral Pie

In the past, raisins were one of the least expensive fruits you could buy, so Funeral Pie was (and still is) usually served after funerals as a way to remind mourners that they came into the world with nothing, and leave the world the same way. What’s important is a life characterized by humility and faith in God.

Ginger Cake

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1 T. ground ginger

¼ cup butter, softened

1 cup boiling water

½ cup sugar

1 cup molasses

2¼ cups flour

Mix together all ingredients until well blended. Pour batter into a greased 9 × 9-inch baking pan and bake at 350° until done, about 30 minutes.

Ginger Cookies

½ cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 cup molasses

½ cup cream or evaporated milk

5 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. cloves

½ tsp. allspice

½ tsp. salt

Sugar Glaze (recipe follows)

Mix together thoroughly the butter, brown sugar, egg, molasses, and cream. Sift together the flour and spices and stir into the molasses mixture. Chill dough at least 2 hours.

Roll out ⅛-inch thick, using as little flour as possible. Cut into desire shapes. Place one inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes. Glaze with Sugar Glaze.

Sugar Glaze

1½ cups powdered sugar

2-3 T. water

Mix together until well blended and to desired consistency.

If you see someone without a smile today, give him one of yours.