Pennsylvania Dutch Desserts?

[Richard Kilgore]

I am looking for suggestions for a dessert that would go with a Pennsylvannia Dutch meal. Something traditional may work best. What do you guys think?

[mkfradin]

How about shoofly pie or whoopie pies? Apple dumplings? I'm trying to remember more from a visit to Lancaster County PA two years ago, but I think I went into a sugar coma two hours into the trip.

I bet the Lancaster County web site could offer you some guidance, though. Good luck!!

[KatieLoeb]

Fruit pies, particularly strawberry-rhubarb are great.

Emeril did a whole show devoted to Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. The recipes are HERE from that episode and feature a recipe for Whoopie Pies.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks, Katie. A strawberry-rhubarb pie sounds delicious. Thanks for the Emeril link, too.

Anyone else?

[chromedome]

If you can find a copy in your neck of the woods, check out Edna Staebler's book "Food that Really Schmecks." Although Staebler lives (lived? I dunno) among the Mennonite community in the Kitchener/Waterloo area of Ontario, the food is almost identical to that of the Amish country. In fact, many families have branches in both places.

There are chapters on cookies, cakes, pies, other desserts, and home-made candies. Pies are probably the most characteristic Amish/Mennonite dessert, though (often served at three meals a day), so one or another pie seems appropriate. "Schnitz" pie (sliced apples) is a stalwart, but is not noticeably Amish to the outsider. It's basically a one-crust pie of the type we think of as "Dutch apple". The version made with dried apples, perhaps, is a little more distinctive.

Sour cream raisin pie? That's a true "damn the calories" dessert!

Lotvarrick is a custard pie made with apple butter, that's a good 'un.

Gwetcha is a prune-custard pie, and a real hard-core Pennsylvania item.

Cottage cheese pie? (good with fruit or maple syrup)

"Thick" (slightly sour) milk pie?

How about Botzelbaum ("somersault") pie? That one starts off with the pastry on the bottom and the filling on top, and ends with the pastry on top and the filling underneath.

Let me know if you can't find the book, and I'll PM you one or more of the above. ISBN on the book is 07-077392-0, if that helps.

[TrishCT]

The person who gave this recipe wrote on the top of it:

"This recipe comes from melting pot of Mennonite Cookery."

I do not really know what that means, but these are good. I am writing it exactly as it was given to me, which is why the instructions say what they do.

Mennonite Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 2 teaspoons

white vinegar and milk enough to make 1/4 cup

Granulated sugar for tops

Instructions:

Combine butter with sugar, work smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Add flour and baking powder which have been sifted together. Add the 1/4 cup of liquid mixture. Dough will be stiff but pliable. Roll out half the dough on a well-floured board, using a floured rolling pin until 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters and transfer to lightly greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are a little brown. Remove at once to cool. Continue until all cookies have been made. NOTE: If rolled out too thin the cookies will brown too much. If this happens give them at once to family members who are sniffing the good cookie smells. Yield 3-4 dozen.

[Tracy K.]

Sour cream raisin pie? That's a true "damn the calories" dessert!

The other name for the raisin pie is "funeral pie", so you might want to stay away from that one....

I'd vote for the shoofly pie...very Penna.

[mrbigjas]

i'd say shoofly pie too. i wouldn't bother with strawberry rhubarb pie--both main ingredients are totally out of season now. and besides, good rhubarb pie shouldn't be bastardized with strawberries.

don't forget the whipped cream. man, i could go for someathat RIGHT NOW.

[Redsugar]

Dutch-style Appel Taart

8 oz. butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 large egg, beaten

3 pounds Red Delicious apples, peeled, cored, diced in ¼-in. pieces

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tsps nutmeg 2 Tbsps cinnamon

Pinch of allspice

3 Tbsps sherry

Cut together butter, flour, sugar, and baking powder. Incorporate beaten egg. (Reserve ½ cup for topping. Mix remainder into a ball, press gently over the bottom and halfway up sides of buttered-&-floured 10-in. springform pan. The dough should have a uniform thickness of just over ¼ inch.

Mix together apples, lemon juice, sugar, spices, and sherry. Spoon onto crust. (The height of the filling will exceed the crust, but bakin will compensate.) Sprinkle w/ reserved topping.

Bake on middle rack of preheated 375° F. oven until top is a rich golden brown, approx. 50-60 minutes. After baking, allow the taart to cool and then you may refrigerate it. Unmould from the pan and serve with whipped cream & toasted natural almond slices.

[Susan G]

A traditional apple pie with the tartest apples you can find - -like Cortlant - and raisins. I believe this is called "Hugenot pie" - and since we're talking about the Amish, this would be very appropriate!

(Both were persecuted Protestants)

[NulloModo]

Another vote for Shoofly, one of the true great pies of the world.