A Review...

Not too long ago I checked out this cookbook so I could go to the "Cookbook Book Club" that was held during the same time the boys have scouts, but that was before I found out I am the new Cubmaster (that's another post for another day...)

My take: beautiful photography, mouth-watering dishes & elegance out the wazoo. Totally fun to look at, but dinner parties for 30 with 20 course meals? Hardly realistic. Oh, and did I mention expensive?

Here was my next pick as I was browsing through the library just for fun. The Amish certainly know about simple ingredients, speed being important & low-cost--my kind of cookbook! Not only that, but as I read through the book I gained so much knowledge about the Amish through their baking traditions. I would highly recommend this book! It's fascinating, and...

Here was our first try: Mystery Biscuits. The mystery being the "mayonnaise" in it I suppose...to ensure moist biscuits instead of dry ones (though I substituted plain yogurt)! Not only that, but I'm a big fan of not rolling them out, instead just dropping them into muffin tins. We all give them 4 stars (it will be 5 next time when I take them out of the oven just a little sooner...)

Our second adventure: Shoofly Pie. Arguably one of the things they're most known for (along with elephant ears, funnel cakes & big, soft pretzels). Weeeellll....I think if you like the raw molasses flavor, you would love this! The crust on bottom & top was great, but none of us were too keen on the molasses taste. So, we each had a taste, took a big slice to our older neighbor who loves molasses & then...threw the rest away *gasp.* I felt guilty, I really did, but not enough to eat the rest. We're not done though...soft pretzels are next on the list, along with a multitude of the other goodies. However, watch out, since lard & sugar seem to be the main two ingredients in many of the recipes...