Recipes

The Essential Amish Cookbook: Recipe and Giveaway

Amish-Cookbook

Special guest post by Melodie Davis

Apple Crisp: Are desserts a daily occasion?

When people think of Amish cooking it may be common to think first of the treats we see in Amish restaurants or tourist bakeries: pies, cakes, cookies, donuts, sweet rolls, breads, and a whole array of delicious desserts.

Several years ago when we at MennoMedia began working on creating a cookbook with Lovina Eicher, the weekly columnist for Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, we desired a well-rounded (no pun intended) cookbook touching on all the food groups and not just the favorite one for many of us: desserts or sweets.

The Essential Amish CookbookLovina surprised me by saying that she does not serve pies, cakes, or rich desserts to her family every day. Her family usually reserves those special desserts for birthdays, weddings, family reunions or gatherings like quiltings or other larger occasions (a barn raising?). She allowed that her family does try to keep cookies on hand for simple desserts or snacks for every day, or to pack in lunches for school or work.

It was refreshing to hear that. As the North American diet has changed to include foods from a variety of ethnic traditions, it impacts the Amish too. As Amish travel and eat out in a variety of places, they begin to enjoy and duplicate at home recipes for pizza, tacos or taco salad, salsa, burritos, and more. And of course they have always, especially in the growing season, eaten plenty of healthy fresh fruits and vegetables—and canned or preserved them for winter.

Lovina says this recipe is one of her mother’s original recipes—and I’m sure a favorite using crispy fall apples. She says, “We would pour cold milk on the warm apple crisp. Now we serve ice cream with it, but when I was young, we didn’t have a refrigerator so we couldn’t keep ice cream” (The Essential Amish Cookbook, Herald Press, 2017, p. 186).

This recipe has the benefit of also being very simple and basic, and has fewer calories because there is no crust. I want to taste it now!

Be sure to comment below to be entered into the giveaway for one free copy of The Essential Amish Cookbook! Don’t forget to share this post with your friends! One winner will be selected at random and announced on Monday, August 20th.

*Giveaway starts today, Monday, August 13th and ends Monday, August 20th and is only open to US residents*

Apple Crisp

9 cups apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Crumb topping
¾ butter or margarine, cubed
1 ½ cups white sugar, (or brown or a combination)
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
In a large bowl, toss together apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour into buttered 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Using the same bowl (if you wish), combine all crumb topping ingredients with a pastry cutter or two forks, mixing until coarse. Spread over apples.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until browned and bubbly and apples are tender.

Connect with the editors for Lovina through social media below. We also print and send emails to her periodically.

Blog: http://www.lovinasamishkitchen.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LovinasAmishKitchen/

Email: [email protected]

*Photo credit to Lucas Swartzentruber-Landis for apple crisp*


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74 thoughts on “The Essential Amish Cookbook: Recipe and Giveaway

  1. Thank You For Letting Me Join This Site! My Daughter Loves To Bake & Cook So With Her Birthday Coming Up I Know She’d Love Another Cookbook! God Bless You All And Have A Great Week!

  2. What a great opportunity you have given us to win a copy of this book. I love the cover, the apple recipe, and can only imagine the great recipes inside. Thanks!

  3. Thank you for the recipe I will have to make it for dessert tonight. Thank you so much for your blog. I enjoy reading it and making the recipes.

  4. I will have to try this recipe this fall. As we collect a lot of apple for the year! Thank you for sharing it.

  5. Im not sure how I have gone so long without knowing your website and facebook page! Thank you for this chance to receive a copy of your cookbook. I will be a nice addition to all my other amish cookbooks I have collected while traveling.

  6. Interesting post! The book looks like a good one to have in the kitchen. Thank you for the chance to win a copy of this cookbook. Can’t wait to try the recipe when the apples on my trees are ready for picking.

  7. One of my favorite things to do during vacation is to peruse local cookbooks from that region and if possible to speak to the “real cooks”-those that cook for families and friends everyday with their local products. This cookbook looks great!

  8. Love these foods so reminiscent of my northern Indiana childhood and would love to share them with my own family.

  9. Thank you for the chance to win. Growing we went to Lancaster PA all the time, I have such great memories of our time there and wish I could still visit.

  10. I have never been to any Amish communities, but would dearly love to see the area where they live. So since I cannot be there, winning her cookbook would be so nice. Thank you for a chance to win.

  11. Thank you for the opportunity to join your blog and to experience the wonderful recipes. It would be great to have the fun of using the recipes in your cookbook to expand my family’s menu. robeader53(at)yahoo(dot)com

  12. I’m so looking forward to some cooler weather so I can start fixing things like this Apple Crisp again! Thank you for the recipe & the chance to win this cookbook!

  13. can’t wait to start making apple crisp for my family! my mom and grandmother always made it and its a favorite memory

  14. Thank you for the opportunity to win this wonderful book
    Blessings – Robin robsnest60 {at} yahoo {dot} com

  15. I have always been interested in trying the foods that the Amish make. I would love to be entered into this contest.

  16. I am looking forward to trying this recipe. I would love to win this Amish recipe book. Thanks for the chance!

  17. Great recipe for the upcoming apple season. I really like the apple crisp recipe, especially the crumb topping. This is a recipe book I would put to good use. Thanks for the great giveaway.

  18. Live close to Amish area (Holmes County in Ohio). I know how good the food is!! I love cookbooks, so this would be a great one to have on hand!!??‍?

  19. Can always use another one of these great cookbooks, with all the interesting tidbits of Amish life. I like making crisps – no bottom crust to prepare 🙂

  20. My mom and I love reading Lovina’s column. I have a few of her other cookbooks. Would love to have this one as well.

  21. What a great giveaway! Thank you for the opportunity and for the apple crisp recipe! I can’t wait to try it! <3

  22. Thanks for giving us the chance to win this cookbook……i already have two Amish cookbooks but would love to have this one as i collect cookbooks.

  23. I would love to have this cookbook. Looks so interesting. Thank you for the opportunity to win a copy.

  24. Thank you for the chance of winning this cookbook and for the delightful Apple Crisp recipe that I know my family will love!

  25. The winner of a copy of The Essential Amish Cookbook is April Haury. Congratulations! Thanks for entering, everyone! 🙂

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