Name: No-Starter Amish Friendship Bread
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: cinnamon sugar mixture (for pans and tops of breads*); 3 cups buttermilk; 2 cups oil; 6 eggs; 1 tsp vanilla; 1 1/4 cups Stevia In The Raw®; 1 1/4 cups sugar; 1 tbsp cinnamon; 3 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp baking soda; 1 tsp salt; 4 cups all-purpose flour; 2 3.4 oz small box instant vanilla pudding; 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

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5 from 16 votes

This is a sponsored conversation on behalf of Stevia In The Raw®. All opinions and text are my own.

Back to fall baking

If you aren’t familiar with Amish Friendship Bread then you are missing out on some of the yummiest sweet bread you’ve ever tasted. Growing up, this bread was popular among the Navy wives in our little base community. To make the bread, you need to get a “bread starter” from one of your friends (or make it yourself). The starter is made with a mixture of flour, sugar and milk placed into a resealable bag. You knead the bag once a day for a few days and then you have to “feed” it for a few days after that. After the tenth day, you can divide it all up into 10 resealable bags and pass them out to friends (hence the name, Friendship Bread). They can then make the bread by adding a few more ingredients to the starter or start the process all over again to make more starters. Bottom line, it takes a bit of time and dedication.

No starter – all good

But it got me wondering – can this bread be made and taste as good as the original without all the waiting? I don’t want to wait for yummy sweet bread! It turns out you can! And the bonus? We can cut out a bunch of the sugar that we would’ve been adding by using the starter method. By simply using Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag you cut the sugar in half and the calories too – now how about that as a gift of friendship! If you aren’t familiar, here are some highlights about Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag:

It is a zero-calorie sweetener, perfect for any baking and cooking needs.
It contains an extract from the sweet leaves of the stevia plant.
Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag measures cup for cup with sugar so it can easily be used in any of your favorite recipes to reduce sugar and calories – no conversion from sugar to Stevia In The Raw® necessary
Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag is formulated so that 1 cup has the same sweetness as 1 cup of sugar
Up to 700 calories are saved for every cup of sugar that is swapped out for Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag

Be sure to look for Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag in the baking aisle of your grocery store

Friendship is still in the bread

To keep the “friendship” in the friendship bread, I decided to make some mini loaves of this bread. So instead of getting a “starter” to make their own bread, my friends will get some they can eat today! In this recipe I am still using regular sugar for the topping (to get that lovely browning on top of the loaves) and substituting half of the sugar in the original recipe with Stevia In The Raw®.

All you need are a few mini loaf pans. This recipe will make 8 mini loaves or 2 regular loaves. These make wonderful back-to-school teacher’s gifts as well. Your whole home will smell delicious as these are baking! Cool crisp air and warm sweet bread straight from the oven – there’s nothing better!

Ingredients:
for the cinnamon sugar mixture:
1/2 cup Sugar In The Raw®
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

for the Amish Friendship Bread:
3 cups buttermilk
2 cups oil
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups Stevia In The Raw®
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 (3.4 oz) small boxes instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325f degrees. Spray two bread loaf pans (or 8 mini loaf pans) with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle half of the Sugar In The Raw®/cinnamon mixture on the sides and bottom of loaf pans.

In a large bowl, stir together buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir in Stevia In The Raw®, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.Then, slowly stir in flour and instant vanilla pudding. Finally, gently stir in chopped walnuts.Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Sprinkle the tops with rest of the Sugar In The Raw®/cinnamon mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes (for mini loaves) and about an hour for full-size loaves.

It smells heavenly!Allow to cool completely. Then gently remove the loaves and pack them into cellophane bags.

Enjoy!

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Recipe credit: Friendship Bread Kitchen

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