Amish Friendship Bread and Apple Butter

Today, I thought I would share some recipes! With the holidays coming, it's always nice to have wonderful goodies to share with family and friends!

AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD

The first recipe, Amish Friendship Bread is a wonderful cinnamon bread that begins as a starter that can be shared with others so they too can make some bread! I love to make this bread and have it as one of the desserts for Thanksgiving, bring to work and share with my coworkers and also to give as gifts at Christmas time!

First you must make the starter. The starter is simply one cup flour, one cup sugar and one cup milk. I store mine in a plastic storage bag on the kitchen counter. I find that is the easiest way to do it. *Do not refrigerate. The bag will fill up with air, simply let it out. Don't panic if your mixture is thickening, bubbling and fermenting, this is supposed to happen!

Day One: Make starter or if you receive some from a friend, do nothing

Day Two: Squeeze the bag

Day Three: Squeeze the bag

Day Four: Squeeze the bag

Day Five: Squeeze the bag

Day Six: Add one cup flour, one cup sugar, one cup milk

Day Seven: Squeeze the bag

Day Eight: Squeeze the bag

Day Nine: Squeeze the bag

Day Ten: Add one cup flour, one cup sugar, one cup and stir.

It is now time to bake and give some starter away as a gift to a few friends! Pour one cup of starter into 3 plastic bags. Give to two friends and keep a bag for yourself if you want to make more bread!

With the batter remaining in the bag, add the following ingredients:

• 1 cup oil


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 cup sugar


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp vanilla


• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 3 large eggs


• 2 tsp cinnamon


• 2 cups flour


• 1/2 cup milk


• 1 large box instant vanilla pudding

Pour into 2 large greased and sugared (cinnamon and sugar) loaf pans. sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the top. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Enjoy!!

Apple Butter

So what do you do when you have a huge bag of apples sitting on your counter? Make apple butter!! I will share my apple butter recipe and it might inspire you to make some to give as a wonderful gift this holiday season! Mine was made using the crockpot which was great because you could leave it on all night to cook without fear of it burning or scorching.

*Using a tart apple, peel, core and quarter your apples. Then finely chop. Fill crock pot to brim with apples. *Place finely chopped apples in crock pot. Add 2 cups apple cider, 3 cups sugar, 3 tsps cinnamon and a pinch of salt. For a variation in taste, use 2 tsps cinnamon and a 1/4 tsp nutmeg or cloves. Cook at high for 3 hours stirring occasionally, then cook for an additional 10-15 hours venting the lid slightly. This will allow the mixture to thicken.

When mixture is thickened and a deep rust color, you will know the apple butter is ready. Prepare canning jars as recommended by manufacturer and jar the apple butter. This is the best way to store the apple butter in my opinion.

I hope that you will get a chance to try out these recipes and maybe even make them as gifts for friends and family.