By Kevin Williams
We recently featured an Amish oven-fried drumstick recipe, but this one enjoys the tangy and sweet of honey-mustard.  So, I bring you Nancy Stutzman's Amish Baked Honey-Mustard Drumsticks.  Nancy is in the Geauga County, Ohio Amish settlement, the fourth largest in the USA.  This is a vibrant Amish settlement about an hour east of Cleveland.

AMISH BAKED HONEY-MUSTARD DRUMSTICKS

Fresh chicken is a staple on the menu of Amish farmsteads.  And perhaps there is no more favorite part than the drumstick.  Often drumsticks are plentiful on Amish farms. especially if they are raising a lot of chickens for meat.  Kids and parents alike will fight for the last drumstick.   You can probably buy a bag of frozen drumsticks and use this same recipe, which is a wonderful blend of spices and the tangy sweetness of honey and mustard.

Notice the crispy, tangy skin which seals in some amazing, tender meat.  It's interesting because chicken is very popular on Amish farms, but turkey is not as much.  You'd think that turkey would be just as popular because the gobblers would just wander around the barnyard in the same way as chickens.  To me, the meat is just as good. I do know some Amish that raise turkeys, but, among the Amish, turkey is relegated to mainly a Thanksgiving food.

 A BOWL OF AMISH DRUMSTICKS

Okay, so let's talk about this tasty recipe:

Most Amish homes feature the same brands of condiments and spices that most non-Amish homes have.  Some exceptions include ketchup, many Amish make their homemade catchup, but I don't know of any that make homemade mustard.  And honey is often "straight from the hive" that would impact the taste of your chicken (usually in a good way) if you had some nice, local honey to use.

Yes, your hands will get a little messy as you take the chicken out of the Zip-loc bag and prepare to dip it in the honey-mustard mix.  This is where you can get a little inventive, perhaps add some of your favorite barbecue sauce to the honey-mustard.  Other good additions might be some brown sugar or a splash of molasses.  All of these would pair well with the honey-mustard mix.

My mother mixed up honey-mustard. I'm pretty such if I were doing it I'd have added a splash of barbecue sauce, but that is totally up to you.  For this type of cooking, rules go out the window, most Amish cooks would say.  Even a splash of Coke might make for an interesting flavor.

You can do what my parents did and cover a cookie sheet with foil, because otherwise this chicken will make a mess and who wants to have to scrub a pan right after a delicious dinner?

Pair this chicken with something seasonal like this tomato, cucumber, and balsamic vinegar side salad.

AMISH BAKED HONEY-MUSTARD DRUMSTICKS

4 pounds of bone in skin on chicken
½ cup mustard
½ cup honey
⅔ cup flour
2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
¾ teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons baking powder
butter flavor non-stick cooking spray affiliate
kosher salt
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray.
Pat chicken dry, leaving skin intact, and set aside.
In a small bowl, stir honey and mustard.
In a large zip-top bag, combine flour, baking powder, salt, paprika and black pepper. Place the chicken in the bag a few pieces at a time and shake to coat. Then dip in the honey-mustard blend.
Put chicken on the foil-lined pan.
Bake in the preheated 425 degrees oven for 45-50 minutes, turning over after 30 minutes. Spray again with the cooking spray after turning. Juices should be clear and temperature should register 165 degrees.