It's as Big as a Dinner Plate!

Episode Transcript Amish Cookies

picture this you are home in Ohio and run up to the Chief grocery store the sponsor of Mary's Memo to buy a sweet treat what do you get oh I know exactly what I'll get I'll head straight to their Bakery section and find a box of my favorite cookies what if I told you that I think I found the recipe for those cookies I would say when do we get started uh now [Music] welcome to Mom's Wooden Spoon get your apron on and your fanny flicker ready as we cook up some nostalgia ooh yummy 

hello this is Carrie and this is Kristen and welcome to Mom's Wooden Spoon welcome everyone today we are going to make a recipe from our 1987 Church cookbook yes it was submitted by someone I remember oh yeah she was older she was about our Grandma's age yes and just a super sweet lovely woman who was so nice to the young children oh she really was and I do remember loving her food whenever she would bring food to potlucks I would make sure to get some of hers because I would always know it would be cooked well oh that makes this even better absolutely oh yay yes so the recipe we're making today are Amish cookies yes we typically call them Amish sugar cookies they're a little different than normal sugar cookies they're very different I think yeah and normal sugar cookies uh thin right you can do like the Loft House cookie which is thicker and a little cakeier maybe but very dense yes these are puffy very puffy very wide around and more cake-like yes I would explain it almost like a muffin top yes they're very very good we always go to Chief grocery store to pick some up when we're in town oh yes we do and those come with a glaze I love the glaze on it today we're not doing a glaze we're doing a cinnamon sugar sprinkle prior to baking that sounds awesome yeah I think it'll add a little bit of flavor because they're basically just a very plain cookie there's not even any of our favorite ingredient vanilla in it there's not any vanilla no it's just sugar buttermilk flour and leavening agents and lots of eggs interesting it'll be so cool to see I am really excited and you know we live up near the Amish right we do so there's like the Pennsylvania Amish which live on the opposite side of Ohio and obviously in Pennsylvania yeah totally different sects yeah then where we live but yes there are definite Amish communities in northwest Ohio Southern Michigan yes absolutely Indiana which brings me to the point that I went to Chief Supermarket grabbed a box of these to bring home to my Ohio friends who live here in Georgia and I put them out and I said oh my gosh I brought back Ohio sugar cookies they did not know what these were they had never had this style of sugar cookie isn't that so wild it is so wild but when I searched for it online this recipe was everywhere Amish sugar cookies I even found this really cool website it's called memaweets.com who doesn't love a memaw I know yeah I remember we had grandma Grandpa and our cousins had a memaw and a papaw yep and we just thought wow that's so different we had never heard of memaw  and papaw my husband his sister and her husband are memaw and peepaw oh cool so Memaw eats had a really cool article she wrote a Blog about these Amish sugar cookies she used to have an Amish neighbor oh and they did not call them Amish sugar cookies what why would they call them that it's kind of like being in China and calling it Chinese food that's right because you don't do that it's food that's right they called them Church cookies oh yep and The story goes that Amish people sit in church all day long right it's an all day event and so the Amish moms would bake these cookies and bring them with them to the service and then pass these gigantic cookies out to their kids to help keep them quiet during the service fascinating yeah so I don't know a tremendous amount obviously about the Amish but our dad and stepmom they do some business with some Amish and so I've gone with them and what I was told on the way there that there actually is no facility that is the church oh that is correct Meemaw eats went into how the whole thing happens they have church at one another's homes yes so everybody builds a home with like a super huge first floor that's very open because it's going to be used for church service yes when it's your turn and then everybody brings contributions and it is yeah an all-day event all day event I'd be happy to have one of these giant cookies at church um anywhere yes anywhere interesting because right before I got here I was looking up some news articles and apparently there is a man who was born and raised Amish and then at 17 decided it was not the life for him it ran away in the middle of the night and so he's now living among as Amish would call the English that's right and he's successful and has you know created a whole new life oh yes but he's been doing like Tik Tok videos I love him I follow him do you really he is wonderful he has the most beautiful smile everything he says he ends with this gorgeous smile and it's just a delight he's so cool yep so you guys will have to check him out on Tik Tok yeah he answers questions about being Amish and what it's like and he has no ill will at all it just wasn't the life for him right and he has a fabulous accent because he was raised speaking Dutch and German and so and in Minnesota so he speaks English with this Dutch German Minnesotan Amish accent yes yeah all wrapped into one it's really he's fun to listen he really is yeah we'll have to uh put his name on Tik Tok on our website so you guys can check him out that'll be great I don't think I could find him again because it was just a random article I can because I follow him you're his bestie I am his bestie I'll call him I think that's perfect that's cool yeah let's get started on this recipe crazy lady okay let's see what's in it you know look at all the oil two cups of corn oil specifically not vegetable nope not canola nope corn we are putting in the oil the eggs and the sugar it says cream together corn oil sugar and eggs so Carrie's grabbing those eggs and I am going to grab the dry measuring cup and get in here and get us some sugar okay so Carrie here's one cup number one don't let me miscount fine the first time I ever experienced these cookies was a traumatic event oh of my own making those are the best yes so one day little girl walking home from school and we would cut through backyards from the bus stop or at least I did I cut through a bunch of backyards and I came up the side yard you did I did yeah it was faster you wild little kid crazy I did not do that breakin' the law breakin' the law 

and you are not allowed to walk through other people's yards that was rude and inappropriate so in the first place rude and then I walked up the side of one of our neighbor's house and saw that she had some beautiful tomatoes growing and I thought my mom likes tomatoes sure I'm gonna grab one of these and take it to her as a gift aren't you so thoughtful what a lovely thoughtful child and I brought that home and Mom said where did you get this random tomato of course she did right and I said I found it in a yard of course you did I was walking and it was just sitting there and it had a sign Kristen take this home to your mom because when you say it she won't ever guess no how would she guess you are such a flawless liar oh such a sneak right so I get it home and she goes tell me the truth and I'm like how did she know and I told her that I had taken it from our neighbors tomato plant and um she said well we're going to have to take it back and you are going to need to apologize oh I felt so scared and embarrassed and she went with me we rang that doorbell and the neighbor opened the door and she was so kind oh yay yep she said oh sweetie thank you so much for being honest come on in and she gave me milk and cookies and they were Amish sugar cookies really yes I loved it so much I had mom ask her for the recipe oh how cute were you yes but our mom didn't bake and so she never made those but when we found them in Chief we were super happy yeah yes same thing I just have such fond memories of that neighbor and how kind she was to me when I was so afraid and you hate tomatoes as a result as a result you cannot touch those tomatoes trauma will ensue that's right so again I say this almost every episode trauma triggers memories happiness too just just to throw a positive spin on it let's move away from Debbie Downer here wah wah

alright I have to cream all this good stuff together yeah and so if y'all give me a minute it's a noisy process so I'm gonna move the bowl over do that and we'll be right back 

so I have beautifully emulsified our ingredients did I use that correctly isn't that mixing oil and other stuff ooh yes yay it actually looks like vanilla pudding it does it looks quite delicious yeah don't taste it that would be oh and all that oil raw egg and oil that could not be healthy that is the stuff of nightmares right there all right so now we have to add the buttermilk and then all the other ingredients so you want to do the buttermilk it's close to you and I'll start with the baking soda and baking powder okay pushy pants I am miss pushy pants I'll do exactly what you say do my bidding Carrie do you remember the Magic Blue Fairy Oh do I remember the Magic Blue Fairy are you kidding me so when we were little I don't remember how it started do you remember the story yeah when we were younger I as a younger sibling wanted to be kind and wonderful to my older sister oh yes and so I had blue footed pajamas that's right and she would say oh gosh I don't want to have to clean up my room and I would tell her to close her eyes and it would magically get done that's right but I didn't want her to know it was me so I use my fairy voice close your eyes that's right in a squeaky high voice squeaky high voice 

and I would run around like a crazy lady and get it done and then tell her that she can open her eyes now and  by magic yes it was done it was done that's right and then being the older sister that I was I started taking advantage of you massive advantage and so it didn't take long until the high squeaky voice would say the Magic Blue Fairy is mad at you the Magic Blue Fairy is not available to help I am sure that's exactly what little kid me said not available to help that's right the Magic Blue Fairy is taking a nap Magic Blue Fairy's  had enough of your crap um hum oh Magic Blue Fairy Magic Blue Fairy so now we've added in some buttermilk and some leavening agents and I have to say it does not look as good and it smells boss nass it smells awful oh my gosh

as I'm adding in the ingredients it's crazy it has so much salt one and a half teaspoons of salt and then boy do they want these things to rise two tablespoons of baking powder so I'm trying to mix all these wet ingredients into my fabulously emulsified oil oh yeah and then um Kristen's gonna start adding the flour okay sure we are loading this mixing bowl we are we'll have to do this very carefully I might have to get a bigger one so I got us a bigger bowl I think that that is a fantastic idea this is a lot we haven't even added the flour in I was saying to Kristen as she was transferring bowls that maybe for a first time try you want to halve the recipe because I don't know about you all I do not have a big enough bowl yep all I have is the biggest bowl in my mixing bowl set and that was not going to cut it no you know we tried to see how many cookies that this will end up making and the recipe doesn't say that it's a mystery it is and it's funny because I was just talking with my friend Lisa and she said that you know she'd never really got trained by her mom to do a lot of cooking right Okay and not like us I know right we didn't either

but she she finds the recipes from church cookbooks very difficult because they rely on the fact that you just know basic cooking things well you know we've talked about that before with Mary's Memos yes that they're you know I think people did more cooking oh you had to eating out wasn't prolific like it is now no and so I think there was a lot more cooking at home being done yeah and we say this quite often oh my gosh a 70s housewife must have known how to do this but I had to look it up right just no idea yep plus I'm thinking some of these recipes are recipes that have been passed down and so the recipes that you learned and you took a couple handfuls that's right or you know some pinches I I think everybody has stories well we do not no but I think people who come from families who cook oh yeah have stories of learning from like their grandmother to make their famous whatever oh yes well Lisa said she was taught how to make her mom's biscuits okay her mom tried to and Lisa would say well how much flour is that a cup two cups three cups and her mom would say we just keep putting it in till it feels right or it looks right yes well that's really hard when you don't have the experience it is hard okay so that's four cups I need two more well I'll tell you what I think Carrie was on to something because while these do make gigantic cookies I mean the directions say to use a quarter cup measuring cup to drop them onto the cookie sheets but this is a punch bowl full of batter basically she's not joking it really is and she just keeps adding more flour the last cup all right here we go so Carrie 1987 was one of the best of my teenage years why because Dirty Dancing came out in 1987 oh my gosh I've heard you tell stories I was oh really oblivious oh yes to the fact that the movie even existed really let alone your love affair I loved it so much that I saw it every weekend in the theater that I could and ended up seeing the movie 13 times that's crazy did you always go with friends or did you yes yeah I always went with friends different friends yeah anybody who would go with me I took I loved it I loved the soundtrack I wanted to be Baby I loved Johnny oh the music was great it was so romantic when she was walking at dusk through the woods did you want to carry a watermelon I did laughs oh boy and the song from that movie was one of the top songs of 1987 I've had the time of my life love it so many choices when you said the song I was like oh is it the one that Johnny Depp sings not Johnny Depp oh my gosh Patrick Swayze what the heck is wrong with you last time you said Tarzan had Baloo in it and now Johnny Depp was in Dirty Dancing what the heck let's let's move on everyone let's talk about the amazing music from 1987 okay okay The Bangles had the biggest hit song Walk Like an Egyptian yep love that song the lead singer of the Bangles I'm gonna go with Suzanne Vega but it's not Suzanne Vega but I just said Johnny Depp was in uh Dirty Dancing so we don't trust me but I had such a girl crush on her oh she was awesome I thought she was just the height of cool she's on Tik Tok now you know really yeah you'll have to find her oh I will but you know what Suzanne Vega has a song on here too 1987 my name is Luca I live on the second floor I live upstairs from you something something seen me before I I stepped real loud on the floor oh my gosh one of the other songs on the list just reminds me of working in the back of TCBY making the waffle cones on the waffle machine and burning the heck out of my fingers as I wrapped them around this wooden cone-shaped thing oh yeah it was White Snake ooh here I go again on my own fabulous one I jammed to that in the back of TCBY there was a real big deal about I don't know is it his girlfriend the lady that crawled up on the car yeah on the call Tawny ended up being his wife for a while yeah just for a while aww sorry guys I know but another really really important song to us came out 1987 Living on a Prayer it was yes I can remember watching the video for that seeing it for the very first time on MTV and thinking that Jon Bon Jovi was the most magnificent looking human being I had ever seen in my entire life those were the days where I was a thorn in your side or my perception of life was that I was a thorn in your side why probably because you're a teenager and everybody was a thorn on your side oh yeah yeah so what I remember is you running back to my room yes Carrie Carrie you've got to see this I didn't care what I was gonna see my sister wanted me to see something and running out to see the TV and it was Jon Bon Jovi with that big red moon boot kicking it at the camera yeah and you telling me that he was the most beautiful specimen of humanity you've ever seen and me going yeah I don't know that I did but my sister wanted me to see something oh I did not know you felt that way I was so excited that it automatically made it my most favorite video of all time because we had a bond yeah we did yeah over John Bon Jovi Living on a Prayer oh and that video oh my gosh I just loved that so much and you know guys as I listened to some of the songs that were the actually I listened to the top 100 from 1987 yes I sat and listened to all of them yes and so folks I made you all another Spotify playlist oh my gosh you're on a roll I know so some of the other great ones were um do you remember that song by Glenn Medeiros Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You oh yeah I don't know by now how much I love you that song sounds like a cool down song to Jazz aerobics yes we would go to Jazz aerobics and I can absolutely see the arms going up the knees bending the deep breaths being taken the neck rolls the arms stretches side to side cool it down girls I was wearing my leggings with my leg warmers oh so cool oh yeah Denise Austin would have been so proud of me yes she would have been Jane Fonda heck yeah oh yeah oh boy and so the video for that song nothing's going to change my love for you  was so dreamy Glenn was walking on the beach with this cute girl oh boy did I love that romance in a two minute bit it was so much romance nice yeah and another song that you probably aren't expecting on this list by The Georgia Satellites got a little change in my pocket going jingle langa lang and that is one of my most favorite songs of all times it is so fun I know the words to exactly zero songs right it could have been my most favorite song that I listened to a million times in the 80s you play it now and I'm gonna mess up right 80 plus percent of the words to that song but I know all of the words to that song I mean you can be in a bad mood you put that song on bad mood over yeah all is well with the world yeah so folks I wanted you to have as much fun as I did they're songs by Whitney Houston Bad by Michael Jackson was really big in 1987 so I hope you guys enjoy it so go check it out on our website fun that sounds like fun all right Carrie we have to grease these cookie sheets so let me grab the cookie sheets grease the cookie sheets huh yes yes oh okay so this is not 1987 but it's really close and I felt like it was so appropriate for this recipe so in 1985 there was a movie Harrison Ford Kelly McGillis yes that's appropriate for this recipe anything spring into mine there was an Amish movie yeah like a murder mystery yes called Witness oh that's right I remember seeing it years later when it was made for TV glued to the screen so cool so Kelly McGillis and her little boy are from an Amish community they go into town for I don't know what the little boy witness is a murder Harrison Ford is a detective and he ends up moving out to the Amish community to save the boy so that he could testify right you know to save the day yeah that's the story I'm not going to tell you how it ends good girl I don't want there to be any spoilers uh no angry emails from people telling me you had just gotten ready to watch that and I ruined it spoilers from 85

exactly I cannot be held responsible for that um but it was a good you need to put on some witness and eat these cookies yeah that's what I'm thinking fresh out of the oven yeah a little Amish after the podcast is over we're gonna hunker down on the couch and eat us some sugar cookies and watch Witness it just it comes full circle folks full circle it does all right so Kristen has greased the pan she handed me a measuring cup the recipe says use a quarter cup measuring cup to drop these suckers on to your tray cookie sheet I think I'm going to go three across because these are going to spread they are spreading the dough is not real thick boy I'm hoping these puff up like the ones we're used to it'll be very very interesting to see how these turn out yeah I don't know how they couldn't and now we have to sprinkle them with some cinnamon sugar prior to baking yes that is correct okay they say to pop these in a 400 degree oven for seven to eight minutes but watch so they don't get too brown and stay soft yes oh goodness so we have our first batch of cookies in the oven we were able to fit six cookies on each cookie sheet so I can't wait to see how those come out in about seven minutes yeah so we just put 12 cookies in the oven yeah you cannot tell that we pulled any batter out of this bowl at all it still looks full it does well this is why folks we go to Chief Supermarket and buy these cookies oh yeah A they're delicious and B you don't end up with so many yes I really I would recommend halve this yeah it would be pretty easy to have all right well I guess we're gonna sign off for a second we finished doing some rotating of cookies and then we'll see you for a little more gab Fest and the tasting ooh I cannot wait of the cooled and delicious Amish cookie yum yum yum [Music] 

we have finished baking all of the Amish cookies we did what three dozen worth three dozen yes and I will say that we have had mixed results oh you are not kidding so the first batch about the size of pancakes yeah like a dinner plate yes not silver dollar by any stretch huge they are gigantic huge now these cookies usually are big but these were crazy big these were like bigger than big yes I kept thinking they look like a funny face pancake yes from IHOP her cookies turned out way better than mine did still gigantic still gigantic but less gigantic less gigantic and a little fluffier because they went up instead of out sure yeah okay so that was the first round yeah then the second round we did make them a little bit smaller we did I feel like the size was a much better success yep we totally forgot to put the cinnamon sugar on top we did so we're gonna have naked cookies that's right and then the third um the batter had been sitting out obviously in a warming kitchen yeah for quite some time we did smaller scoops and those suckers spread like you know when you see baking fails on the internet yeah someone doing this adorable snowman cookie right now it is this nasty blob of nothingness that's right that's what happened it filled up the entire cookie sheet yes but you could see kind of where the individual cookies were but they ended up being kind of square so I don't know if we didn't get things mixed in as well make sure you stir it up really well yes and refrigerate the dough in between uses because they look otherwise oh they look just like the Amish sugar cookies that I remember yes and I cannot wait to try these yes you know I have been in Amish Country yep stopped on the side of the road for a family that was having a bake sale typically to help someone within their Community with something and purchased cookies and they look just like just like these oh yes yeah they smell so much good oh my gosh so I can't wait to taste them and see how they taste with no vanilla yes I mean that just seems so counterintuitive it does okay do you want to take the first bite oh uh yes like let me shove you out of the way so I can get to the cookie that's right so while Carrie takes her little bite I'm going to reiterate to you folks that you probably should only use half of a quarter cup when you plop that on the cookie sheet and then you probably ought to refrigerate the batter in between putting them on the cookie sheet you know how I mentioned that you might want to cut the recipe in half so you don't have too many yes I take it back make them all oh my gosh make them all let me try it they are so good oh my gosh they're just like I remembered them they are light and fluffy and perfectly sweet tasty that cinnamon sugar on the top it makes it really extra special so good I thought I'd miss the glaze but yeah I don't no not one bit now I haven't tried the ones without the cinnamon sugar but whatever but we'll pretend oh my gosh folks you've got to make these oh these are incredible yeah these will be cookies that you share with people I think because they're so unusual they are and so delicious and you don't care that there's not vanilla in these not one bit I don't miss it at all and I can see how you could be a little Amish kid eating your dinner plate size cookie all during this church service oh yeah if you took little nibbles you'd be eating on that for hours for hours and you should take little nibbles you want this flavor and texture oh yeah to just go on and on just fluffy deliciousness well Mrs Peters put in a great recipe incredible yes it wouldn't be a good cookie to put on like a little gift plate that you might give to your kids teachers or something you know you want to put little small cookies and this would be a plate with a cookie yes and I do have the feeling that if you leave them stacked for long yes as moisture seeps out of them that they'll get real stuck together yeah I think they will get stuck together so I think that a cookie is the way to go otherwise they'll be fused into a cookie a gigantor cookie right oh my gosh  just super thick thank you guys for listening to another episode of Mom's Wooden Spoon head over to momswoodenspoon.com for more fun stuff and leave us some positive feedback while you're there

[Music] thanks for listening to Mom's Wooden Spoon if you like what you heard don't forget to subscribe if you want a copy of this recipe or to check out our blog click on the link to our website in the podcast description if you'd rather you could get to our website through Facebook Twitter or Instagram pick your poison don't say poison we're making food