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Delicious stories fill Amish cookbook

By Kim Davaz

Sometimes a cookbook is as much a collection of stories as it is a collection of recipes. “The Amish Cook at Home: Simple Pleasures of Food, Family and Faith” is that sort of cookbook. Written by Lovina Eicher - writer of the Amish Cook syndicated newspaper column - with her editor Kevin Williams, the book follows her family and community through the year, beginning with the spring.

Photographer Betsy Blanton’s respectful and beautiful photographs of Eicher’s family and farm enhance the family’s stories.

Williams’ introduction tells how as a young writer in Indiana, he was sent to do a story on the Amish. Taken by the people he met, Williams asked one of the women, Elizabeth Coblentz, if she would be interested in writing a newspaper column on Amish life that he would try to syndicate.

For 11 years, until Coblentz’s untimely death on a cookbook tour in Missouri, they worked together on the Amish Cook news-paper column. After her death, Coblentz’ daughter, Lovina, took over as the Amish Cook, finding her own voice as a writer. She shares recipes and family history, combining them with tips on gardening, canning and the Amish ways. Eicher is a member of the Old Order Amish, which means she doesn’t drive a car and doesn’t allow electricity or telephones in her home.

In her book, the first three recipes in “Spring” use fresh spring dandelions. The greens are used in salad and in gravy, and the flowers are used in jelly. As the year progresses, attention is given to days of religious significance and family celebrations as well as the times for planting and harvesting.

Cooking isn’t all from scratch in the Eicher kitchen. Cream of mushroom soup, refrigerated biscuits and Bisquick have their places in Eicher’s pantry, as does Velveeta, that marvel of food technology with its fascinating texture and wondrous melting quality.

The Amish are adventurous cooks, eager to try new and different foods. You’ll find a sedate corn pudding in the “Summer” section as well as recipes using lots of jalapeño peppers: cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped peppers; hot pepper butter; and salsa.

Zucchini is a very popular vegetable at the Eicher house, appearing as a side dish, a relish, in jam and in baked desserts. When you’re feeding eight children who may not be thrilled about vegetables, you find ways of tucking those vegetables in wherever possible.

“The Amish Cook at Home” is a guide to a way of life as much as it is a cookbook, a true look inside a home, especially inside a kitchen, that does its best to hold to the ways of simplicity.

The recipe for Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies is from the winter section. Instead of shortening, I used room temperature butter to make the frosting. The recipe says it makes 18 cookies. Eicher must make really big cookies, but they’re also very nice made in small circles.

The recipe says to use 3½ to 4 cups of flour, enough to make a soft but firm dough. I mixed 3½ cups of flour with the baking powder and baking soda, keeping the other ½ cup of flour in reserve. The amount you’ll need depends on how much moisture is in your flour, how liquid your sour cream is and the size of your eggs. Add the additional flour gradually, as needed.

Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1½cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 3½to 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Stir in the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until a soft, firm dough is formed. Roll the dough out to a ½-inch thickness on a floured surface. Use your favorite shaped cookie cutters to cut out the dough. Place the shapes on the prepared pan.

Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Frosting:

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• ½ cup milk
• Food coloring, colored sprinkles, chocolate chips (optional, for decorating)

Cream the shortening with the vanilla and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Gradually add the milk and the rest of the powdered sugar, beating constantly. More powdered sugar can be added to give you the desired thickness. Food coloring can also be added if you like. Spread the frosting on the cookies and decorate with colored sprinkles or chocolate chips. Let the frosting set before storing.

Kim Davaz writes a biweekly cookbook review column for The Register-Guard.

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