There had to be a recent German branch of the family somewhere in Grammy’s France-Luxembourg background; there are just too many family recipes that are identical to the ones found in Pennsylvania Dutch or Mennonite cookbooks. But Grammy was a teenager during World War I, and her children’s generation fought in World War II; Germany and German heritage was deeply unpopular then, and many German-Americans edited their family histories. On the other hand, there are a lot of Mennonite and Amish families in Kansas and Missouri, so maybe these recipes were simply passed from friend to friend until they ended up with us.

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup lukewarm (110 degrees) water
• 2 packages yeast
• ½ cup butter or shortening
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 7 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 4-6 tablespoons butter, softened
• ½ to 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Dash salt

Heat milk to about 110 degrees; pour over sugar, salt and butter. Dissolve yeast in warm water (110 degrees) and add beaten eggs. Add milk mixture to yeast-egg mix. Add 1 cup of flour and beat well; cover and let rise until doubled. Add flour 1 cup at a time until dough can be handled; knead and turn into buttered bowl.¹ Cover with towel and let rise again until doubled.

Roll dough into rectangle; spread with softened butter and sprinkle with nutmeg, cinnamon and brown sugar. Roll lengthwise and cut into 1- or 2-inch rolls. Place rolls into buttered pan or pan lined with buttered parchment paper. Cover and let rise until doubled.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake rolls at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. While rolls are baking, combine melted butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract and salt to make your glaze. Cool rolls on baking rack; when they are lukewarm, top with glaze.

Tips and Tricks

1. Save yourself cleanup time and the need for a second big bowl: before you start kneading, take a generous lump of softened butter and generously smear it all over the inside of your mixing bowl. No, you do not have to clean the bowl first. ↩︎