By Kevin Williams
There's a decent chance that if you were planning to visit Amish country today you might find the doors of your favorite bakery closed today. Today, many Amish families are celebrating or observing what is known as “Old Christmas”. We’ve discussed the significance of this date in past years, but it relates to the old Gregorian calendar and the 12 days of Christmas. Not all Old Order Amish observe this day.
The Amish that do celebrate the Epiphany (Old Christmas) today will do so with a spread of homemade cinnamon rolls or perhaps Long John Rolls, an oblong, frosted doughnut.
Bruce Stambaugh,a blogger in the heart of Amish Country, has a few observations about Old Christmas among his Holmes County, Ohio neighbors. Click here to read.
I talked to Gloria (our Amish Cook columnist based in Flat Rock, Illinois) this morning and asked her if her community observes Old Christmas and she confirmed that they don't. Gloria is a member of a horse and buggy New Order church. She said some of the New Order churches in Ohio will observe the day out of respect to their Old Order neighbors. Gloria said that in general New Orders do not observe the day. Here's a brief list of settlements that I have experience with and what they observe:
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA/WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA/PARKE COUNTY, INDIANA: Amish businesses closed, they do observe Old Christmas
BERNE, INDIANA/SWITZERLAND COUNTY, INDIANA/SEYMOUR, MISSOURI; Amish businesses open, Old Christmas generally not observed
HOLMES COUNTY, OHIO/LA GRANGE COUNTY, INDIANA: Old Christmas is observed and Amish businesses are closed.
These are some cinnamon rolls which you'd likely find in Amish kitchens today. I've been in some Amish kitchens on Old Christmas and been greeted by quite a spread! Yet, as noted, other places you'll barely see any acknowledgment or knowledge about the day. Traditions in Amish settlements are very insular and what is popular one place may be unknown in the next.
Old Christmas Cinnamon Rolls
Here is a recipe for these delicious creations!
- 6½ cups bread flour
- 2 c. warm water (105-115°)
- ½ c. granulated sugar
- 1 T. salt
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1 /3 c. lard
- 6 T. margarine or butter, softened
- 1 c. packed brown sugar
- 3 t. ground cinnamon
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of the bread flour with the water, sugar, salt, and yeast. Beat the mixture for two minutes with a wooden spoon, then add the eggs and the lard.
- Stir until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated.
- Gradually add the remaining bread flour to the mixture and stir until a firm dough is formed.
- Cover the bowl and set it in a warm area to rest for 20 minutes.
- After resting, punch the dough down, divide it in half, and form it into two balls.
- On a floured surface, roll one ball of the dough out as thinly as possible.
- Brush half of the softened margarine evenly over the dough, then sprinkle with half of the brown sugar and half of the cinnamon.
- Roll the dough up like a jelly roll.
- Cut each roll into slices that are 1 /2 to ¾ inches thick.
- Place the slices 1 /2 inch apart in a buttered jelly roll pan.
- Repeat with the remaining ball of dough and the remaining margarine, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
- Place the rolls in a warm area and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
- Bake the rolls at 350° until they are golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
- Allow the rolls to cool on wire racks for 15 minutes. I
- f desired, you may spread the rolls with your favorite frosting before serving.
- Makes about 2 dozen rolls.
Tom
Kevin,
Thanks for sharing the cinnamon roll recipe and especially the Bruce Stambaugh reflections. So nice to read about what Christms really should be!
Kevin
Sure, Tom, I think Bruce is a really good writer, I hope to meet up with him sometime!
Beverly
Sounds wonderful! Going to try this recipe.
Kevin
You won't be disappointed, Beverly, those are some good cinnamon rolls!:)
Robin Gorbet
Thank You For This My Husband Just Loves Them , God Bless You & Your Family In Jesus Name Amen ,
Yes I Will Get Back To You On Rate This Recipe Soon Ok . Love From Pastor David Gorbet & Robin Gorbet .
Scott
Hi Kevin,
These Old Christmas Cinnamon Rolls sound great but living in the UK I'm having a bit of trouble trying to figure out if the T's in the ingredients are for tea spoons or table spoons. ?
Kevin
Oops, sorry, Scott, the T are tablespoons, the t are teaspoons. Sorry about that, but welcome to Amish365.com from the UK!
Scott
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the quick reply. Will be showing the recipe to my mam when I see her on the weekend. She's an amazing cook and often cook's for my 6 brothers and sisters and me plus all the grand kids. So this should be enough to feed the tribe ?
Marion Desatnik
These Christmas Cinnamon rolls sound delicious. I must try them for the next brunch at our "Young At Heart" brunch at
our church!
Off subject. Do you have a recipe for good olde fashion Amish Butterscotch Pie? I try, but cannot measure up to the
flavor or texture of an Amish made pie.
Thank you, and have a blessed Easter,
Marion
Kevin
Thanks for stopping by Marion,try this buttercotch recipe
Linda
quick ???? can I substitute all purpose flour for the bread flour? so excited to try these my family loves the ones we buy each time we go to Amish country
Linda
fyi I tried the cinnamon rolls today with all purpose flour, and they were wonderful.....thanks for sharing this recipe with us...
Kevin
Awesome, Linda, thank you for letting us know!
Kevin
Oops, Linda, sorry, I just saw this, yes, you can sub that flour
Tonya Hix
I made these for my family. They are wonderful!! Easy to make too. I plan to make them again soon.
Tonya. Alto Ga
Tonya Hix
Easy to make and very good.
Tonya. Alto Ga