Five Amish Desserts Not To Miss (…And 2 To SKIP)
I run through my five favorite Amish sweet treats in this post. I am calling them “desserts” in the post title, but I guess one or two of them might not be technically desserts, though it’s arguable 🙂 I also share two that I’m not so fond of.
What are your favorite Amish desserts, baked goods, sweet treats? Let us know in the comments. And if you want to know mine, you can check out the video above – or just keep reading.
Five Amish Desserts Not To Miss
These are my five favorite Amish sweet treats. And by that, I mean things like baked goods and desserts. Now, as for #5 on this list, some people claim it is not a dessert. But in my book, it’s sweet enough to count!
1. Brittle
So I’m gonna start with one you might not associate with the Amish. But in some communities, you’ll find this all over the place. And that’s brittle – peanut brittle, for example. So you’ll see this in communities like Ethridge, Tennessee or the community in Pontotoc County, Mississippi.

This is kind of a tradition, especially in these southern Swartzentruber Amish communities.
So it’s not just peanut brittle, but they’ll also use all kinds of nuts. You’ll find things like pecan brittle or cashew brittle, very sweet, usually sold at quite a low price. But again, one one you’ll only find in some Amish communities.
2. Fry Pies
So the next one is much more widespread, and that is the fry pie. These are another really easy, quick treat.
Usually, you can get these for, like, a dollar fifty, $2 maybe. And this is basically like a pie pocket that’s filled with fruit filling.
One place you can get these is at Hershberger’s Farm and Bakery in Holmes County, Ohio. The owner, Daniel Hershberger, explained fry pies in an article for the Wooster Daily Record.
He sells 14 different flavors, including cherry, rhubarb strawberry, peach, red raspberry, black raspberry, apple, raisin, grape, and more.
One interesting thing about fry pies – Hershberger explained that the crust is actually different from your typical pie crust. He said that, “it’s more flaky. Fry pies are deep fried, but they don’t taste like it.” And I’d say that’s true. They don’t have that heavy deep fried feel to them.
Kind of fun to eat – a nice one to pick up and eat in the car while you’re driving around an Amish community.
3. Monster Cookies
So next one is a type of cookie. Now Amish bake a lot of different cookies. This is just my personal favorite. And if I see one of these, I almost always have to pick it up, and that’s monster cookies.
So the monster cookie is typically made from oats. It’ll have the colorful M-and-M’s and chocolate chips, peanut butter, and other ingredients. Very tasty. I’m a sucker for monster cookies if I find them in an Amish place.
4. Snitz Pie
So I’ve already told you about fry pies, but I also have to include regular pie on the list. Now my favorite, and you might have heard me talk about this in other videos, is definitely snitz pie. And if you can find it, this is a great pie to try.
This is also known as a church pie, in communities like Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Snitz pie is made from cooked dried apples and additional spices.
I’ve also seen that Amish will use apple butter to make this pie as well. Very simple pie, not too sweet, nice spice flavor to it, very delicious. That said, I like many types of Amish-made pies.
5. Homemade Donuts
Finally, my fifth favorite Amish sweet treat, I would have to say donuts. I think a lot of people out there agree with me on this one because Amish in different communities will cook donuts and sell them at their stores, and they’re very popular.
One kind of well known example is at the Community Market in Unity, Maine. They’re known for having a donut day. I’ve seen this in other stores in North Carolina and Illinois. You will also see donuts for sale at auctions.
I’ve even had the chance to attend a family Amish donut-making day where they fry them up in big vats and sprinkle the powdered sugar on top.

Very delicious cooked fresh like that. You can kind of understand their popularity.
Two Amish Desserts To Skip
So those are my five favorites. Now, here are two desserts associated with the Amish that I have to say I don’t love.
1. Whoopie Pies
And the first one of those is whoopie pies. Now whoopie pies are one of the most famous Amish desserts. The thing about these, for me, is they’re a little too – or maybe a lot too – sweet with all the cream.

Maybe a little too simple of a dessert. A couple chocolate slabs with a bunch of overly sweet cream filling in between. Just not a fan.
So I know a lot of people like whoopie pies, but they’re just too much for me.
2. Shoofly Pie
The second one that I would say I don’t love is shoofly pie. That doesn’t mean I totally dislike it. I do eat shoofly pie. So I definitely don’t mind it, but it’s definitely not my first pick. It’s just something about the flavor.
Now the way the Amish typically eat it is interesting. They’ll put a piece in a bowl and pour whole milk over it, and it kind of makes a soupy mess. That’s something you may even see Amish eat with their breakfast. It’s fine, but, you know, not my first choice.
So let me know what are your favorite Amish sweet treats, and are there any that you don’t love?
For more, see:
- Amish Foods: 5 Favorites Not To Miss
- Amish Country: Where To Eat (5 Options)
- What foods do Amish people eat?
- 5 Surprising Facts About The Amish & Food
- Amish Food (8 Common Questions)
- Is Amish Food Really Better?
- 3 Ways The Amish Cook Food
- 3 Ways Amish Keep Food Cold


Amish sweets
Here in central PA we have numerous Amish shops and swap meet venders that sell just about all the baked goods that you could buy commercially. I agree on the whoopie pies… unless its the monster cookie whoopie pie. The Purple Martin Bakery in Belleville, PA has just about every flavor of fry pie imaginable and the raisin flavor is my favorite. Also on the note of putting the shoo-fly pie in a bowl with milk is very familiar as when I would eat breakfast with my Mennonite neighbors growing up, after eating a bowl of cereal they would always put a piece of cake or pie into the leftover milk and let it soak up the remaining milk prior to eating it. And tho not a sweet, but the Amish have to make the best soft pretzels I have ever had!
Joseph now there you go throwing me a curveball – whoopie pie, monster cookie edition. I would at least try it!
Thanks for putting the Purple Martin Bakery on my radar. Not only is it a great name, it sounds like Fry Pie Central.
Amish Crack!
We love the Amish Crack! i.e., cinnamon caramel doughnuts from Rise N Roll Bakery near Shipshewana, Indiana… If you google “Amish Crack,” that’s what you’ll find online, which is so funny to me.
Have heard of that one but never tried it – must be powerful stuff with a name like that. I’m assuming R n R doesn’t use the name in their marketing though:)
Miller’s Bakery
I enjoy the fry pies at Miller’s Bakery. I always visit Miller’s Bakery when I visit my Amish friends in Mount Hope, Ohio. I have to take pies home to Louisiana.
Column
I love reading and watching your videos, you always make your topics so interesting, can’t wait for your next ones. My favorite is the fry pies.
Thank you Connie!
Favorite amish desserts
I think I’d love the fry pie resembles a apple turnover. Only food product i found at Wal-Mart out west is amish potato salad and so delious. .
My favorite is date pudding/date cake.
Interesting one, I’ve never been too fond of dates but I’d try the pudding at least. I don’t think I’ve ever had it
I’m wondering if date pudding is more of a Midwestern Amish dessert. I’ve eaten it in the Arthur, Ill., settlement as well as the Elkhart/LaGrange settlement. Here is a short description from the Amish 365 blog:
“Date pudding is very popular as a dessert in many Amish communities, especially as the warm days of summer begin to unfold. Date pudding is a summer treat in many Amish settlements. It’s an enduring Amish food mystery for me because dates (middle eastern) have no real roots or cultural culinary commonality with the Amish. But this dish turns up again and again at Amish events and in Amish cookbooks.”