Amish in the News: Milk Pie, Fastnachts, Chocolate Mayo Cake, and More!

By Kevin Williams

We have a definite food theme to the news this week.  But that's okay, that means it's quiet in Amish country and that is generally the way they like it.

MILLIE OTTO:  Check in with Illinois Amish columnist Millie Otto who serves up a recipe for orange cream cheesecake and shares what is going on in her community over the past week. Click here to check it out.

AN AMISH GENETIC MYSTERY:  To be candid, a lot of the stories about Amish genetic issues make my eyes glaze over.  There's just a lot of complicated genetic sequencing information that I am not very good at comprehending, but this article was written in an accessible way for the layman and it really is very interesting.  Scientists at the Mayo Clinic are doing some groundbreaking work in unraveling some of these Amish medical mysteries. Click here.

AMISH COUNTRY MAYONNAISE CAKE:  Check out this delicious sounding recipe from Amish country chef Lee Ann Miller, click here.

IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA?  Check out an article about where to find some of the best Pennsylvania Dutch fastnachts.  Mmmm, sounds amazing! Click here.

PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH MILK PIE:  This is one of those easy "desperation pies" that the Amish are so famous for, Coalcracker in the Kitchen describes the pies:

Milk pies are a very old Pennsylvania Dutch creation that originated as a treat for children . Often made in individual serving pie tins,, they were created to use up the trimmings of left-over pie crust from the “good pies” the cook was making (see there’s that “waste not, want not again…) The very basic ingredients for the filling were inexpensive and almost always in the pantry; flour, milk, sugar and butter.