{Merry
CHRISTmas everyone! Every Monday, Wednesday & Friday in honor of our
Savior’s birth there’ll be a new Christmas book review! With a couple giveaways
sprinkled in, it’s going to be so much fun! Let’s start!}
Hi y’all!
I’m doing something I’ve never done on here before—reviewing
a cookbook! And this is a special cookbook! It’s an Amish cookbook! Not only that
but it’s an Amish Christmas cookbook!
My American Heritage Girls troop is having a bake
sale this weekend so the timing of this is perfect! :)
I don’t really know where to start this review, so I’ll
just start with the Contents. What’s neat about this cookbook is that there’s a
lot about the Amish and what they do for Christmas! {I’ll call those the “learning
parts” in this review.} Plus many Scriptures are written out!
Introduction: A Brief
History of the Amish and Mennonites…
An
Amish Christmas…
Snacks
and Bites…
Christmas
Program…
Christmas
Traditions…
Breads
and Rolls…
Christmas
Meals…
Christmas
Gifts…
Gifts
from the Kitchen…
Christmas
Music…
Christmas Decorations and Cards…
Salads,
Main Dishes, and Sides…
Second
Christmas…
Old
Christmas…
Sweets
and Desserts…
Entertainment
and Games…
Index…
All of these recipes are sent in from Miss Wanda E
Brunstetter’s Amish Friends; therefore, you’ll see last names such as Yoder &
Miller and places like Shipshewana, IN & Middlefield, OH.
In the Gifts
from the Kitchen section of this cookbook there’s some really fun recipes!
But not like all of them are recipe-recipes. There’s all kinds of fudge and
mixes in a jar but there’s also Silly Putty!
As a photographer, I didn’t like the picture of the
food at the “learning part”, Christmas Meals…it
wasn’t very pretty and seemed like pictures from cookbooks my Momma has had for
30+ years. The recipes that had pictures, though, were good. :)
My Momma and I have made three recipes so far out of
this cookbook, the Fudge Puddles (which were a hit at our church!), the Ginger
cookies (which I share down in this post!) and the Fudgy Chocolate Cookie Bars
(really yummy! Our’s didn’t quite turn out picture-perfect so I’m not sharing a
picture but they are yummy!).
Some other recipes I’d like to try are Buttery Corn
Bread, Peanut Butter Fudge, and Never Fail Caramels.
There also are some recipes I won’t eat (like ones
with Ham, no, not Jewish, we just don’t eat Pork/Ham) but I think there’s
plenty I will eat. ;) I have to admit to laughing when I saw a recipe called
for “Velveeta processed cheese” or Rice-a-Roni.
My family has semi-recently started using Young Living Essential Oils and I’ve been wanting to try to bake with them! I attempted
to in this recipe! :)
So with that, Let’s
eat!
Ginger
Cookies
You’ll
need:
1 cup shortening
½ cup sugar
½ cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ¾ cups flour
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ginger*
1 teaspoon cinnamon*
1 teaspoon cloves*
*Optional:
Toothpicks
Put Shortening and sugar together in a mixing bowl
and cream well. Beat in molasses, egg and vanilla.
If you’re going to do the Essential Oil route, the E.O.
way, make sure your Essential Oil is a 100% Therapeutic Grade Oil. {Click Here to see what I mean! Stay away from Food Grade oils!} Because Pure Essential
Oils (like YL) are very strong you do not want to do a full drop of oil! Take a
(wooden) toothpick and quickly dip it in the hole in the clear insert inside
the bottle. (Orifice Reducer, is the technical name. ;) ) Pull out and swirl
the tooth pick around in batter for all three, using a different toothpick for
each oil then throwing away the used ones.
Sift together dry ingredients and gradually blend
into wet mixture. (If go the normal way of baking, this is when you’d add the 1
teaspoon of each ginger, cinnamon, and clove to the dry ingredients.) {We, uh, had a little accident...the switch got stuck on high...}
Now the waiting! Chill your dough for at least 3
hours. {The light was fading fast in our kitchen so I finished the recipe this
morning. :) }
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough out to 1/8-to
1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut cookies with floured cookie
cutter. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8 to 10 minutes.
Yield: 2 ½ dozen.
Elsie Mast
Shiloh, OH
I’ve never been a super big fan of molasses but
these were good! I’m positive they’ll go great at our bake sale! :)
I’ll see y’all on Monday with another CHRISTmas
review, but have you entered our giveaway? Ends on the 15th!
*I
received this book for free from the Author for this review.
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