Recipes for Friendship & a Recipe Swap ~ (2024)

UPDATE: This contest is now over. Thank you to everyone who commented or shared a recipe. The winner was chosen using Random.org, and that winner is Barva H. Congratulations!

It’s Amish recipe time again! I would love it if you’d post a favorite recipe in the comments segment and so would the thousands of recipe lovers who’ll stop by this blog throughout the week. But you don’t have to post a recipe to enter this week’s giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment so I know you’re interested in participating.

If you are reading this blog post anywhere other than my website (such as through Facebook, an email, or Goodreads), please hop on over to mywebsiteto leave a comment. Only comments left on my website will be entered into the giveaway. (It’s just too hard to track down all the comments left in various places, and that means it would be easy to miss someone’s entry.)

This week’s giveaway is an autographed book of the winner’s choice AND the Amish-made cloth doll seen below! (Winner may choose a book that is not yet in print (i.e. book one of my new series that begins this fall or my third Christmas novella that comes out this November)–as long as she/he is willing to wait until I receive my author copies.)

A Real Coffee Party

(from The Esh Family Cookbook)

Arrange flowers, coffee, cookies, and fruit on a pretty tablecloth. Begin by mixing friendship, laughs, understanding, sharing, and caring while placing children beside toy box. Start conversation, get toddler off table, mix children, cookies, fruit, and patience and add a dash of laughs. Set conversation aside while removing flowers from children’s reach. Put pacifier in crying baby’s mouth. Hear children munching loudly while ignoring crumbs and squabbles. Wipe up spilled milk and walk the floor with crying baby.

Forget coffee, cookies, and fruit while scraping up all remaining patience. Send children outside, lay sleeping baby in crib. Place friends around table while ignoring crumbs, spills, and the clock. Pour another cup of coffee and spend rest of the time in meaningful conversation. And look forward to the next time when things will surely go better!!!

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

Mix all ingredients with a wooden or plastic spoon in a nonmetallic bowl. Pour into a zippered plastic bag and continue with the following steps.

Amish Friendship Bread Instructions

Day 1: Leave alone.
Day 2: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 3: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 4: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 5: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 6: Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk; squeeze bag until mixed.
Day 7: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 8: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 9: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 10: Pour the batter into a nonmetallic bowl. Add 1 cup each of flour, sugar, and milk. Mix with a wooden or plastic spoon. Pour four 1-cup starters into gallon-sized, zippered plastic bags. Give to friends along with the instructions, keeping one starter for yourself.

Then mix the following ingredients, and add to your portion of the starter:

1 cup oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup milk
3 eggs
½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding mix

In a separate bowl, mix 1 teaspoon cinnamon with 4 tablespoons of sugar. Sprinkle into two 8″ x 4″ x 2½” greased bread pans. Pour batter into the pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Chocolate pudding mix may be used instead of vanilla. You may also add chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins.

~ ~ ~

For those of you who’d like an easier recipe, you’ll find one below that is used for Amish weddings. It’s one of the candy dishes passed around during the daylong celebration.

Trail Mix

1 cup M&M’S
1 cup raisins
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup peanuts or assorted nuts
1 cup milk-chocolate chips
1 cup dried fruit of your choice (banana, apricots, etc.), cut into small pieces

Mix all ingredients together, and store in an airtight container.

I used Random.org, and last week’s winner of the blog contest is commenter number 4, Patti! Congratulations! You’ve won an autographed copy of The Hope of Refuge. You should have received an e-mail with instructions, but if you didn’t, please send an e-mail with your postal address and a copy and paste of this section that list your name and the item you’ve won, and send it to cindy@cindywoodsmall.com. Thanks!