Do you revel in eating the cookie dough right off the spoon? Do you consider yourself a connoisseur of cake? Would you do just about anything for chocolate?
If you're a sweet-toothed visitor to Amish Country, you've come to the right place (and if you happen to live here, you're even luckier)! The Amish Heartland is brimming with all manner of sugary treats, from humongous donuts and creamsticks to old-fashioned pies, cakes and cookies. Not to mention the hand-dipped chocolates and homemade peanut brittle.
It's enough to make your teeth hurt just reading about it...in fact, perhaps in the next issue we should include listings of local dentists!
Chocolate heaven
Visiting the Coblentz Chocolate Company in Walnut Creek has been described by one of our writers as "a heavenly mission" -- a mission to find your favorite candy, that is! Coblentz uses about 60,000 pounds of chocolate per year, and as they shop, customers can watch as some of that product is hand-dipped.
At Coblentz, there are creams available in vanilla, maple nut, chocolate, orange, raspberry and peppermint patty. You'll find clusters in eight varieties: peanut, raisin, coconut, vanilla peanut, maple peanut, caramel peanut, hazelnut and cashew.
Craving caramels? There are many delectable varieties available such as caramel pecan bars and cashew snappers.
If peanut butter confections tickle (or stick to!) your palate, you'll find peanut butter smoothies, cups, Ritz sandwiches and graham peanut butter bars.
Other chocolate selections include cherry cordials, chocolate marshmallows, rocky road bars, honey toffee crunch, almond bark, orange jellies and raspberry jellies. There are also date pecan dips, covered Oreos, pretzel twists, almond buttercrunch, mint truffles, pastel coconut bon bons and dark coconut candy.
Fudge fanatics can choose from vanilla walnut, maple walnut, peanut butter, peanut butter chocolate, and chocolate almond fudge -- or maybe you'll just take some of each.
And if youre a sweets-lover who cant have sugar, youre in luck at Coblentz; many of their most popular candies are offered in sugar-free varieties.
Farm-fresh homemade
As ice cream goes, Hartzler Family Dairys delectable goodies are known as the crme-de-la-crme of the region.
Although the Hartzler familys ice cream shoppe didnt open until 1996, dairy founder Harold Hartzler has been farming in Wayne County for more than 40 years. He and several sons currently operate four farms producing all-natural milk. To the benefit of all, some of that milk eventually becomes rich, velvety ice cream in flavors like Mocha Caramel Chip, Cherry Cheesecake and Coconut Almond Fudge.
Visitors to Hartzler Family Dairy on SR 3 north of Wooster can indulge in all manner of creamy treats, plus fresh sandwiches and salads, in the cozy caf. People come from far and wide to buy not only the ice cream, but also the all-natural, cream-top milk in the old-fashioned glass bottles and country roll-style butter. To boot, Hartzlers products are certified chemical-free -- no herbicides, pesticides, hormones and the like. Thats about as close to farm-fresh goodness as you can get!
At this time of year, Hartzlers offers its delectable Peppermint Stick (peppermint ice cream with chunks of candy cane) as a special flavor. Plus, the regular flavors are just as much fun to order as they are to eat -- Ill have one scoop of Trip-to-the-Dentist, a scoop of Chicken Feed and a dollop of Road Hogg, please!
(One hint about Hartzlers -- credit cards are not accepted in the ice cream shoppe; I found this out the hard way once and had to leave with half the ice cream I wanted!)
Bakeries
Almost as numerous in Amish Country as the furniture shops and gift stores are the bakeries! These can be found here, there and everywhere, and in addition, many of the local restaurants sell their own baked goods for customers to take home.
At Kauffman's Country Bakery near Berlin, brothers Steve and Richard Kauffman have been serving up delightful baked goods for more than a decade.
One of their most sought-after specialty items is German Stollen bread. Commonly bought as a holiday treat, but available year-round, this sweet bread is filled with fruits and nuts that have been soaked in rum flavoring. After the dough has risen, the loaves are brushed with butter, dredged in a sugar mix and then sprinkled with confectioner's sugar.
Around the corner near Charm is Millers Bakery, an authentic Amish establishment in that all the delicious goodies are made without electricity. Millers is known for its signature cheese tarts, wonderfully rich cream-cheese concoctions offered in eight flavors. Fry-pies, or fruit tarts deep-fried to a golden brown, are another favorite of Millers customers.
When you come in the front door of the popular Amish Door Restaurant (just east of Wooster), it's hard to get by the fantastic bakery items. They look wonderful (two of the giant cinnamon rolls are as big as a loaf of bread) and smell even better.
Don't miss the Amish Door's out-of-this-world apple fritters. Neil Zurcher featured this restaurant's fritters on his famous One-Tank Trips, declaring them to be the very biggest and the very best. We enthusiastically add our agreement!
Last but not least where bakeries are concerned, dont forget that Amish-Country mainstay: a great piece of pie. For sheer volume and quality, no one beats Troyers Home Pantry in Apple Creek. The pantry bakes and sells thousands of pies each week in more than 30 varieties -- try cherry crumb or German chocolate -- and everything is made from scratch, just like Mom used to do! Around the holidays or a special occasion, its common to hear someone exclaim, Dont forget the Troyers!
Topping it off
The Simply Smuckers retail store is a place where customers can make selections from the vast array of Smuckers products -- and we do mean vast!
The large, barn-like store in Orrville offers just about everything Smuckers makes ... jams, jellies, preserves, fruit butters and syrups; and of course, ice cream toppings. There are many, many varieties of all these items, and many products come in sugar-free options.
Besides being able to purchase all your favorite and soon-to-be favorite toppings, Simply Smuckers also provides some ready-made foods, thanks to their in-house bakery. Be sure to try some of their out-of-this world cookies, muffins and crumb cakes. Recently, theyve added scones, biscotti and cinnamon rolls. You can buy bakery items on the spot or special order them.
These are only a few of the sweet spots in Amish Country. Of course, after youve had your fill of sugary goodies, we recommend a brisk stroll down a country road -- both to enjoy the scenery and to aid in digestion! Thanks for coming along.
Esther Leggett contributed to this story.
Jan/Feb 2004 edition