By Kevin Williams
Okay, time for one of our occasional journeys into the Amazon - Amazon.com, that is. Man, as an aside, Amazon is building a huge new distribution center at the airport in northern Kentucky, about 50 miles from where I live. Probably won't be long before Amazon drones are delivering my orders. And, by the way, this post does contain affiliate links, which means Amish365.com gets a small slice of whatever you order. But you can order anything on Amazon - toothpaste, diapers, wrenches, whatever - as long as you use the links in this post as a "doorway" to Amazon, then Amish365 gets a commission on anything you order.
An Amish classic: cinnamon coffeecake
AMISH CINNAMON COFFEECAKE: This is made by the Breadbox Bakery in Shipshewana using Amish recipes and Amish bakers, so I'd say this is the real deal and I need to order one of these soon. Soon. But if anyone wants to snag one before I do, check it out here.
MUDDY POND SORGHUM: Molasses is made from sugar cane, sorghum is made from, well, sorghum. You get a rich, deep, flavorful "molasses" and Muddy Pond is in the middle of molasses country (everyone just interchanges the two, so I'll plead guilty also....some people even fudge and say sorghum molasses). Anyway, this is good stuff. Muddy Pond is a quirky Plain community which I'd love to visit sometime. I understand there are ex-Amish there, some Plain Mennonites, just sort of an eclectic Plain community. But they make some great molasses there, check it out here.
Amish Cooking by Pathway Publishing set the standard for the modern Amish cookbook.
AMISH COOKING: This book is a classic, I'd say almost the "gold standard" for today's Amish cookbooks. I place so much stock in this book because it is published by Pathway Publishing, an actual Amish-owned publishing company. I used to have a copy, and I just order one from this link - for 45 cents. Crazy. But they have brand new ones available for $8, this is a really great cookbook, first published in the 1970s, and I am looking forward to sharing some recipes from it with all of you. Click here to get your copy!
AMISH COUNTRY ESSENTIALS ALUMINUM FREE DEODORANT: SIGH, basically, everything is bad for you, why even bother getting up in the morning? I mean, I feel like if you read everything, believe everything, then everything is bad for you and you'll be paralyzed. Still, one wants to make wise choices. Okay, so I poison myself with Cokes, I might as well not add to my toxic cesspool with my brand of deodorant giving me a dose of aluminum. SIGH, I don't know if that stuff is bad for you or not? Who really knows...? I've read things that say aluminum in your deodorant isn't a good thing, so I ordered some of this stuff and I'll try it out and report back. I figure for $5 I might as well try it. But if you want to try also, click here.
FARM DUST - INDIANA AMISH SEASON SALT: Wow, I bet this seasoning is tasty. This is made by the Weaver family in northern Indiana who were born and raised Amish and now draw upon their culinary heritage of seasonings and spices to sell. This Farm Dust is stocked in stores around Shipshewana with a strong word-of-mouth following. Click here to take a look.
- 1 cup butter or margarine, divided
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 5 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg, divided
- 3 cups flour, unsifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup dairy sour cream
- ½ cup milk
- 1 4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons water
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- In a small saucepan melt ¼ cup butter.
- Stir in walnuts, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon and ½ teaspoon nutmeg. Mix well -- reserve for later use.
- In a bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 3 teaspoons cinnamon and ½ teaspoon nutmeg.
- Set aside. In a large bowl cream together ¾ cup butter with sugar.
- Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Add vanilla.
- Alternately stir in flour mixture with sour cream and milk.
- Blend until smooth.
- half of batter into a greased tube pan.
- Spread half of nut mixture over batter.
- Repeat once more.
- Bake until golden and a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
- Remove from pan. Cool. Mix powdered sugar with water and drizzle over cake.
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