The "The More Goo and Icing ... the Better!" Story

Just Sue serving her sticky buns.

It was an ordinary day.  Visiting with our friends Jerry and Just Sue in State College and eating the best part of the meal Just Sue has prepared for us ... dessert.  Don't remember much about the main course, but I sure do remember the dessert.  The dessert today it is a rather unusual sticky bun that had a layer of apple as part of the topping.  Not sure if it would be classified as a real sticky bun, but to me it was and I should know since I have eaten many a sticky bun in my lifetime.  The sticky bun came into being in the Middle Ages when cinnamon became available to the average homemaker.  Then in the 1700's  German settlers brought their sticky bun recipe to the new world.  They settled northwest of Philadelphia in an area known as Germantown in the early 18th century and their sticky buns were known as "Schnecken."  

Good looking sticky buns!

The Pennsylvania Dutch was a cultural group formed by these early German speaking immigrants.  The Pennsylvania Dutch were mostly Lutheran and Reformed, but also Anabaptists who promoted a simple lifestyle.  The Anabaptists were also known as Plain people and in the area of Pennsylvania where I live they were either Old Order Mennonite or Old Order Amish.  And, can they bake a mean sticky bun.  Our local road-side markets as well as Lancaster's Central Market are laden with their sticky bun concoctions and I have tried many of them.  I love regular sticky buns, raisin sticky buns, sticky buns with extra goo .... get the idea.  

Sticky buns with a light coating of white icing.  I would
definitely need much more on my sticky bun.

At the end of last summer Carol and I made a visit to State College and spent an evening with Jerry and Just Sue at the Grange Fair in Centre County.  Had a fantastic large sticky bun that was covered with white icing.  If that wasn't enough, I asked for a cup of extra icing to pour over it.  And, of course, I had it with a cup of milk for dunking.  I'm sure everyone has their favorite recipe for making the sugary treat and also has their favorite place to buy them, but for me .... I enjoy just about any sticky bun from the one at the Cinnabon stand in the mall to the one sitting in front of me on Just Sue's dining room table.  And, she even knew to have a glass of milk for me.  Ah, dessert time now!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.