{Let's eat!} Ginger Cookies from Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Christmas Cookbook

{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!

Contents~

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:

Young Living Essential Oil Ginger

Young Living Essential Oil Cinnamon Bark

Young Living Essential Oil Clove

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 15^th! 

*I received this book for free from the Author for this review.

{Let's eat!} Eleanor's Shortbread from "A Beauty so Rare" by Tamera Alexander

Hi y’all! Have you notice in some fiction books you read they have recipes in the back? Since I made this blog, I've always wanted to try out those recipes and today that happens! I have a great recipe to share with y’all! From the AMAZING book “A Beauty so Rare” by Tamera Alexander! (click on the text to see our review!) I made this delicious Shortbread recipe today and Hmm-mmm-mmm! And I have step-by-step picture instructions! It's my first time doing food photography but I like how these turned out! Everything Miss Tamera says will be in bold! And here we go!

Hey friends,

Is there anything that smells as good as homemade shortbread baking in your oven? Oh so scrumptious, and a time-honored recipe. Shortbread is just one of the many recipes included in A Beauty So Rare, the second stand-alone novel in the Belmont Mansion series.

Since Eleanor Braddock (the heroine in A Beauty So Rare) is practical to a fault, she makes her shortbread in a cast-iron skillet, so I did the same. Gives you the best crunchy edges and buttery middles! Wish I could share some with you. But I'll do the next best thing––share the recipe!

Have you ever made shortbread? It's so easy.

Eleanor Braddock's Shortbread

(from "A Beauty So Rare")

3/4 cup butter at room temp (1 1/2 sticks)

1/2 cup powdered sugar*

1/3 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour (sifted)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, then spray a smaller (8-9 inch) cast-iron skillet very lightly with non-stick cooking spray. You don't need that much spray. Trust me, the butter in the recipe will take care of that.

{I don’t have a cast-iron skillet so I used a stone-wear mini-loaf pan.}

Cream the butter until light and fluffy.

Add the powdered sugar,

then the 1/3 tsp of vanilla. {I didn't have a 1/3 of a tsp, so I did a little less than a 1/2 tsp.}

Next, work in the flour. You can either mix the flour in with an electric mixer, or you can get into the 1860s way of doing things and knead the dough on a floured surface until it's nice and smooth.

{I chose the modern option. ;) }

{Remember! It's okay to make a mess...just make sure to get most of it in the bowl. ;) }

Press the dough into the iron skillet (or you can use a pretty shortbread pan too).

{I used a mini-loaf pan}

Bake for 30-35 minutes {mine only took 27 minutes} until golden brown. Cool for about 10-15 minutes then flip the pan over onto a wooden cutting board. Cut the shortbread into pieces while still warm. It "sets up" as it cools. Or serve it warm. Serves 10-12. And it really does. This stuff is rich and delicious. Hope you enjoy. 

Oooooh! The smell! Oooooh! Oh! It really is delicious! I’ll defiantly be making this again!

And just for fun, a bit of history:

*Did you know that in 1851, Oliver Chase (of NECCO Wafer fame) developed a mill for powdering sugar which he used in his candy making process? But if a cook wanted powdered sugar back then, refined loaf sugar was pounded into a fine powder in a mortar and pestle. So much easier today, huh?

For more recipes and to watch the novel trailer

for A Beauty So Rare, visit www.TameraAlexander.com

This week has been amazing! We've met two of our favorite authors, went to a book convention, tried out this delicious recipe & are still celebrating our First birthday! Plus! We're having a giveaway for that last one too! Enter here! Ends the 4/16! 

See y'all soon!