As promised here is the recipe for the actual Friendship Bread or Amish Friendship Bread as it’s called sometimes. Amish Friendship Bread has been around a long time, and some people claim that the recipe did indeed come from the Amish. However, there is no real connection to the Amish people. No matter where the original recipe came from, the fun is in the sharing. You create a bread mixture and after it is ready to bake you share some of the dough with your friends or family. You give your friends parts of the dough, and you keep some of it so that you can continue to make it. You can keep the chain going on your own, and your friends can start chains of it as well. No matter what, the Amish Friendship Bread is something that you can all share.

If you get a starter from a friend, you can easily follow the instructions that come with it. There are also so many things you can do with the mixture once you are ready to bake it! I will give some examples of what you can add to your bread at the end. It’s up to you, be creative! Have fun!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup starter mix

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl combine starter, oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir well.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

3. Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

4. Spoon mixture into 2 well greased loaf pans and bake in a 350º oven for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

VARIATIONS:

– use chopped pecans & dried apricots in place of the walnuts and chocolate chips

– substitute 1 teaspoon rum extract for the vanilla and add 1 cup of flaked coconut and 1 cup well-drained crushed pineapple

– substitute raisins for the chips

– omit the chips and add 1 cup applesauce and 1 cup raisins

– omit the chips and nuts, substitute 1 teaspoon nutmeg for the cinnamon and add 2 cups fresh blueberries