About the Book:
This superb collection of dessert recipes—from bestselling author of Amish fiction Wanda E. Brunstetter—will transport your taste buds to the slow lane, where life is meant to be savored and appreciated. You’ll be delighted with this wunderbaar gut (wonderful good) volume, as you open your heart (and kitchen) to the delicious desserts and simple ways of the Plain People.My Comments:
While this post will be published June 1, I actually wrote it the Saturday after Easter--the publisher doesn't like reviews coming out too long before the publication date. In any case, I went to Weight Watchers this morning, and, for the first time since January, had a weight gain. One reason I'm sure is that I made a version of one of the recipes in this book (though I did lighten it up with fat-free Cool Whip and fat-free cream cheese). The other reasons I'm sure had to do with jelly beans and creame eggs. Oh, well, if I can't eat dessert, at least I can read about it, right?
I read somewhere that the Amish have one of the highest calorie diets of any ethnic group. If these desserts are a normal part of life, I believe it. They sound wonderful--full of chocolate, butter, nuts, sugar, and "modern" inventions like Cool Whip and Jello. Actually, I've seen most of the recipes before in church and school cookbooks. They are generally easy to make and use ingredients most people who cook or bake regularly would have in the house.The No-Cook Fudge uses cream cheese, powdered sugar and unsweetened chocolate to make a sweet treat. Do you prefer cake to candy? The chocolate chip date nut cake my mom used to make is here.
The book contains a few "Amish life" photos and some photos of the food, but it isn't a cookbook that illustrates most of the recipes with a photo of the food. Each recipe is followed by a "Food for Thought". One is "Many hands make work seem lighter, especially if they are proficiently skilled hands." Also, Wanda Brunstetter gives credit after each recipe to the person who gave it to her.
While anyone who has a selection of church/school/community cookbooks will probably have most of these recipes already, a new cook, particularly one interested in the Amish, should enjoy preparing and serving these treats. Grade: B.
I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.
I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.
I don't like Wanda's fiction, but the cookbook sounds terrific. I may see if my library has a copy I can look at.
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