Book Review: An Amish Kitchen by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston and Kelly Long

What attracted me first to this book was the attached recipes that promised to add to my still rather limited collection of Amish recipes. I started being interested in Amish cooking when I first came across the term Shoofly pie and had no idea what to expect. But finding a recipe and baking the pie, followed  by enjoying this great taste with my friends, got me hooked. I have been a fan of Amish cooking ever since.


When I received the ebook, I realized that I had gotten an even better deal, namely three stories by three authors. All of the authors are known for writing about the Amish and their lifestyle. So this book was an excellent opportunity to introduce me to three voices about the Amish at the same time.

The stories, entitled A Taste of Faith, A Spoonful of Love and A Recipe for Hope, each take place in the Amish community of Paradise,PA. The first two are love stories, while A recipe for hope deals with a generational conflict that may be overcome through cooking and working together in the kitchen.

As short stories, the stories in the book provide nice reading material for a holiday. The authors do a good job of portraying the conflicts in the Amish community, but the selected issues that are not just limited to the Amish.  The characters are drawn in broad strokes, not surprising given the limitations of short stories. This does not detract from the basic message of each story.

What I most enjoyed, though, were the recipes at the end of the book. These recipes alone are worth buying the book for. There is a recipe for Banana Bread, but also for Shoofly Muffins, which is on the top of my list of recipes that I will try out. Followed by a bunch of wonderful sounding dessert recipes like Apple Pudding and Apple Roll Ups as well as Kaffi Cake.

available on amazon.com here

Overall, I enjoyed the stories because they painted a nice image of Amish communities. While somewhat predictable in their outcome, the stories do make for a relaxing read on a holiday or a lazy weekend. And I see the book as continuing to give because the recipes will be used in my household over and over again.




Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through booksneeze in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own and have not been influenced by the authors or the publisher of this book.