Sour milk is a secret ingredient in many Amish recipes. The Amish version of sour milk is a little different than what most of us having access to. In the case of the Amish, they often have pure, unpasteurized sour milk at their disposal to pour into batters of all kinds.
In fact, years ago, I knew an Amish family that didn't have a cellar so the father cut a huge barrel in half, fashioned a lid, and buried the half barrel in the ground and stored fresh milk in bottles in that barrel. It was just cool enough in there to keep the morning milk fresh til sunset and then it'd begin to sour. You get an acidic curdling, lumpy mess with soured milk but it infuses baked goods with a moist flavor, even more so than sour cream, heavy cream, or yogurt which add richness and depth but not the flavor punch of soured milk. Sometimes Amish cooks will use a mixture of sour milk and something like buttermilk, yogurt, or even cottage cheese.
Amish cooks will also use sour milk in pancakes, biscuits, and cakes.
❓ Sour Milk FAQ
Good news! You don't need to wait until that carton of regular milk in your fridge begins to curdle to take advantage of sour milks charms. Actually, pasteurized milk - which is most of the store-bought kind - isn't that great to use once it sours.
For most practical purposes, you can come up with your own sour milk by taking a cup of store-bought milk and adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to it. Let it stand for 5 minutes and then it is ready to use.
Well, a sip or two won't hurt. But drinking too much can cause a stomach-ache, so be careful. You can get more information here.
Buttermilk historically was the leftover liquid that Amish people would get after churning butter. Good stuff, you don't want to waste that! Commercially made buttermilk is acidized pasteurized milk. Buttermilk and sour milk are both highly acidic. Sour milk, while similar in flavor profile to buttermilk, has, historically, been milk that has undergone fermentation (milk that has not been pasteurized and has sit around too long, bacteria start doing their thing, and the PH level of the milk rises til it curdles)
My friend Jay made these amazing looking sour milk cookies that reminds me a lot of Amish recipes that use sour milk.
🥣 Sour Milk Cookies
Yes, you could use buttermilk as a substitute for sour milk in this recipe and still get a great cookie. But there is a perfect taste to these if you follow the recipe as is. The recipe is very plain, but it works. You could add a sprinkle of spices like nutmeg or cinnamon or swap out white sugar with brown sugar. You could add chocolate chips or - sigh - raisins (I am not a fan of raisins) to the wet ingredients. A squirt of vanilla or pinch of saltmight be a nice touch also.
Remember, if you don't have sour milk, just take a cup of milk and add a tablespoon white vinegar to it and let the milk sit for 5 minutes before using.
Stick a batch of these cookies in the oven and enjoy the wonderful aroma.
🍪 Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sour milk
📋 Instructions
- In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Mix well.
- Then add flour and soda mixed with sour milk. Stir out any lumps.
- Mix well and then chill the dough.
- Roll very thin onto flour board and cut into desired shapes and sprinkle with sugar. Or, alternatively, drop by teaspoon onto greased cookie or baking sheet.
- Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.
🥛 Other Sour Milk Recipes
And here are four more awesome Amish recipes that use that gloppy amazingness called sour milk!
Milk pie is a classic confection among the Amish, a scratch-made sweet that utilizes the basics of baking: sugar, eggs, molasses, and, of course, milk.
It is not uncommon for Amish homesteads to have a few apple trees, just enough to provide enough fruit for homemade applesauces, canned pie filling, and some Apple Grunt!
Never Fail Sour Milk Cupcakes Recipe
The name says it all, this wonderful sour milk cupcake recipe will not fail you!
This Amish Sour Milk Cake recipe makes a moist, delicious peanut butter-chocolate cake I put this in the category of a "comfort cake." Chocolatey peanut butter bliss accurately describes this beauty of a recipe which comes to us from the Amish settlement in Arthur, Illinois.
🖨️ Full Recipe
Sour Milk Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sour milk
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Mix well.
- Then add flour and soda mixed with sour milk. Mix well and then chill.
- Roll very thin onto flour board and cut into desired shapes and sprinkle with sugar. Or, alternatively, drop by teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet.
- Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.
Mary Leal-Wyrick
Awesome ???? recipes! How can l buy an Amish Country recipe book