Looking for some yummy recipes to accompany your holiday celebrations? Then you are in luck! Wanda E. Brunstetter’s Amish Friends Christmas Cookbook is a great season specific cookbook for the winter holidays. With a wide variety of recipes featuring easy to find ingredients and clear instructions, you will find yourself reaching again and again for this book. Between each section, one page essays on Amish traditions give insights into the Plain communities’ take on the Christmas season. I made two of the recipes — Pumpkin Cheese Bread and Chicken Pockets — for a couple of church activities. They were a hit! A great addition to your cookbook library or as a gift, I recommend this cookbook.

Recommended.

Audience: adults.

(Thanks to Barbour for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.) ( )

This is a wonderful Christmas Amish Cookbook. I loved the recipes throughout. I especially loved the recipes for the candies. There is also a page or two before every section of the book that explains a few of the Amish happenings around Christmas and the days after. I received a copy of this book from Barbour Publishing for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will. ( )

Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Christmas Cookbook By: Wanda E. Brunstetter
Softcover 224 pages Reprint
Published September 1st 2014 by Barbour Books & Shiloh Run Press
ISBN1628363908 (ISBN13: 9781628363906)

There was a time in my life, that I believed that every great book could make me laugh, cry and be packaged up into a pretty little package.

My hubby laughed at me, when I told him that we had found THE ONE cookbook and we could get rid of all the rest.

Then, he cried when I made: Breakfast Crepes! He had not had crepes, since he was a child. He loved to watch the batter be turned around and around, as they cooked.

There's a lot of great stuff in this cookbook. All kinds of Amish information, facts and stories. You get to learn, all about Amish Christmas Traditions. And, a lot of our family's favorite recipes, in someone else's book.

I probably will pitch, most of our other cookbooks and that will leave me having the last laugh.

And, I still believe.

I received a complimentary copy of this book, from Shiloh Run Press and Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.

Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Christmas Cookbook By: Wanda E. Brunstetter
Softcover 224 pages Reprint
Published September 1st 2014 by Barbour Books & Shiloh Run Press
ISBN1628363908 (ISBN13: 9781628363906)
Reviewed by: Tina Hoover ( )

I read, I liked. Mommmmm make these for us, please! ( )

There is much to love about this cookbook. It is very similar to “Wanda E. Brunstetter’s Amish Friends Gatherings Cookbook” in format and design. It features spiral, lay-flat binding and gorgeous color photos throughout, as well as glossy pages that are easy to wipe off if lightly sullied by ingredients. Brunstetter opens her “Amish Friends Christmas Cookbook” with a concise history of the Amish and Mennonites and a succint description of an Amish Christmas, which focuses foremost on the birth of Christ. Between each section of the cookbook are more brief insights into an Amish holiday season. I particularly enjoyed learning about their “Second Christmas” on December 26 because that is my birthday, and I love that they spend it visiting with close friends and just relaxing. Also of note is that they observe “Old Christmas” on January 6, which is referred to as Epiphany in the English world.

With a Bible verse at the beginning of each category, this is a nice collection of recipes for the experienced cook. Due, I’m assuming, to limited space, the directions are laconic. Most do not express a serving size, an at times inconvenient omission. In a couple of the recipes, a hyphen was missing and it made the wording confusing: “Roll up jelly roll-style” should have been “Roll up jelly-roll-style”. I have to admit that I was disappointed by the fact that almost all of the recipes use store-bought, processed ingredients rather than homemade. None of the recipes are exclusively reserved as gluten-free, although some of them are naturally and the others can be made so by substituting gluten-free ingredients. It is neat that each recipe is credited with the contributor’s name and location. My favorite section was “Gifts from the Kitchen” because it featured items and recipes that could be gathered into gifts, such as the cookie or soup mixes in glass jars that you see in stores. The three indices at the end are very helpful, enabling a look-up of recipes by contributor, category, or key ingredients. While this may not be the best cookbook for novices or for those seeking recipes with solely homemade ingredients, Wanda Brunstetter’s “Amish Friends Christmas Cookbook” is nevertheless a beautiful and fun collection of recipes and facts.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review. ( )