I will be honest with you.... When in comes to cooking, I am one of those who knows what I like, and VERY RARELY, will I stray from that. So, it's safe to say that I don't venture out and make new recipes very often. HOWEVER, after going through A Farmer's Daughter's cookbook, things just might change!

When reviewing a cookbook & giving an honest review, you must actually cook some of the recipes. In looking through each section, I honestly had a difficult time deciding which recipe to choose! There are soooo many that I want to try! I decided on the Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese! OH EM GEE!! We all LOVED it!

I have DEFINITELY found my new FAVORITE Cookbook! Not only will you find amazing recipes, but there are excellent tips for decorating! My favorite part of this cookbook aside from all the recipes are Dawn's "Food For Thought!" She shares her heart and the life lessons she learned as a little girl or even the lessons the Lord still is teaching her today! I felt like I was sitting across her table, sharing a cup of coffee and chatting with a new friend!

This cookbook will make a great addition to any kitchen and a GREAT gift for friends, teachers, newly married, or even kids going off to college!

As I said before...This is DEFINITELY my new FAVORITE cookbook!

My two favorite cookbooks are Mennonite. Now I have three.

These recipes are unbelievably good. I had a hard time just getting past the breakfast section. I want to make everything in the book. Since it's getting a little chilly out, I chose to make the Beef and Barley Soup. Wonderfully warm and filling.

But it's not just recipes. There's also Food for Thought scattered throughout the book, as well as tips for presentation and other useful bits of information.

This book can make one feel as if love and knowledge is coming your way over a cup of tea or coffee.

Sitting and sharing recipes with neighbors and friends is something I've enjoyed over the years. Thank you Dawn for sitting and sharing with me.

***A special thank you to Donna Hausler for providing a review copy.***

A Farmer's Daughter

Recipes from a Mennonite Kitchen

By Dawn Stoltzfus

Dawn Stoltzfus, drawing on her upbringing, has written a tastefully delicious cookbook. As the daughter of a Mennonite farmer/pastor Dawn grew-up with fresh, wholesome food and she shares her wealth of knowledge in A Farmer's Daughter.

A Farmer's Daughter offers a well-rounded assortment of recipes, so there is sure to be something to please everyone. The cookbook is broken down into nine sections: 1) Appetizers, Dips, and Beverages; 2) Breakfast and Breads; 3) Spring Salads and Dressings; 4) Summer Sandwiches and Winter Soups; 5) Garden Fresh Veggies, Comfort Food, and Sides; 6) Main Entrees; 7) Desserts; 8) Cookies, Cakes, and Bars; 9) Simple Do-It-Yourself Recipes.

Throughout there are little tidbits such as how to present your food, make a party out of the preparation, or even added a special touch to make the recipe your own. There are a few short remembrances of how a recipe can into being or why it was and is a family favorite.

The recipes that I have tried have been easy and straightforward I love the Herb Focaccia Bread, but the recipe that I am sharing in this review is found on page 53 the French Puff Cinnamon Muffins. Dawn's description is as follows "These melt in your mouth. They're like donuts - without being fried. And so simple to make! Yeah!"

Indeed these bite size muffins are easy to make, and when I offered them to my family the first comment made was "This are kind of like donuts. What are they?" So my taste-testers agreed that the donut description was accurate.

Now on to the most important part the recipe.

Ingredients are as follows:

Muffin batter

1/2 cup white or raw sugar

1/4 cup salted butter, softened

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup flour

Cinnamon mixture

1/4 cup salted butter

1/2 cup white or raw sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375*F. Grease 24 mini muffin cups. Mix sugar, butter, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in milk, and then mix in baking powder and flour until combined. Do not overmix. Fill prepared mini muffin cups about half full and bake until lightly golden, 15-20 minutes.

While muffins are baking, prepare the cinnamon mixture by melting butter. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. When muffins are done, let cool slightly and remove from their cups, then dip each muffin completely in melted butter and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Yields 18-20 mini muffins.

Serve warm!

* When I used this recipe I actually made 24 mini muffins, rather than the 18-20.

In the Simple Do-it-yourself Recipes there are recipes to create your own mixes for pancakes, vanilla pudding, taco seasoning, Christmas potpourri, and laundry soap. This is an interesting, tasty, and enjoyable book. Perfect for anyone looking for simple yet delicious recipes.

I was provided a copy of The Farmer's Daughter by the publisher for the purpose of this review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

I enjoy cookbooks, and this one does not disappoint. Dawn Stoltzfus was raised on a Mennonite farm, and you can tell by the recipes these are great wholesome food.

The only criticism I have is there are very few picture. Kind of like seeing what things are supposed to look like.

I loved her Author's note in the back and I so agree with her. At one time in my life we had everything on the table off our farm, except the condiments. You get a real feeling of accomplishment doing that!

I also loved her simple..Do It Yourself Recipes, with hint on making your own Sun Dried Tomatoes, Laundry Soap, Window Cleaner etc.

There is a great index included, making it easy to find that mouth watering recipe you found, easily!

This book is a real keeper, and I recommend it to add to your collections.

Yum!

I received this book through the Publisher Revell and their Blogger Tour, and was not required to give a positive review.

My daughter and I chose to try French Puff Cinnamon Muffins for the purpose of this review.

They have been our breakfast for the past couple of mornings and are a yummy, albeit sugary treat. Peanut says this recipe doubles well. That's always a requirement for a good recipe in our house as most normal recipes are too small for our family and we have to double it, sometimes tripling if we want leftovers.

French Puff Cinnamon Muffins

These melt in your mouth. They're like donuts - without being fried. And so simple to make! Yeah!

1/2 cup white or raw sugar

1/4 cup salted butter, softened

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup flour

Cinnamon mixture:

1/4 cup salted butter

1/2 cup white or raw sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 24 mini muffins cups. Mix sugar, butter, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in milk, and then mix in baking powder and flour until combined. Do not overmix. Fill prepared mini muffin cups about half full and bake until lightly golden, 18-20 minutes.

While muffins are baking, prepare the cinnamon mixture by melting butter. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. When muffins are done, let cool slightly and remove from their cups, then dip each muffin completely in melted butter and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Yields 18-20 mini muffins. Serve warm!

And Another Thing...And Another Thing...The key is to put these in a mini muffin pan. They are such a fun food and when you bake them in a mini muffin pan you can eat more without feeling guilty.

A Farmer's Daughter Review

We really liked this recipe. It was super easy to make. We didn't make them in a mini muffin pan but they still turned out yummy.

We are looking forward to trying more recipes from A Farmer's Daughter, many of which seem like spin offs of the ones we already make, like the hot cocoa recipe, even the French Cinnamon Puff recipe is very similar to a plain muffin we make with strudel topping.

All the recipes seem very straight forward requiring regular ingredients that most American families would have on hand at any given time.

One thing missing from this recipe book is photos, though I realize that many cookbooks do not include photos, I think it is nice when they do.

Two thumbs up from us!

"Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group."

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.