I didn’t mean to sell cinnamon rolls,” says veteran baker Judy Schmitt. “It just kind of happened.”
The first ingredient of the heirloom recipe was her mother, Lorraine Nurrenbern, who baked cinnamon rolls for Schmitt and her five siblings every Thursday after school. After Schmitt gave birth to her third of seven children, she asked her mother to teach her to bake the rolls. Schmitt tried to bake something every day — a big feat, considering those cinnamon rolls take eight hours to concoct.
At first, the Haubstadt, Indiana, resident baked the rolls with butter cream or caramel icing as Christmas gifts for her kids’ teachers. As word of the tasty treats spread, Schmitt received requests. She incorporated pumpkin rolls — which cut her a break, only taking six hours to bake — into her repertoire more than three decades ago. Each year, she uses 4,000-5,000 pounds of flour for baking. There’s nothing special about her recipe, she says, but what makes her cinnamon and pumpkin rolls delicious is the cream cheese. “I don’t have to do this. I just like it,” Schmitt says. “You can find the recipe anywhere; it just takes time. It’s a messy process.”
Cinnamon and pumpkin rolls are her staples, but she also crafts springerle cookies, frosted pecans, and pastry-like German kuchen, as well as homemade dinner rolls, Chex mix, and garlic bread. Schmitt sells her baked goods at around 10 regional craft shows per year. She started a Facebook page for order requests five years ago, allowing customers to pick up their items at her Haubstadt home.
Many of her confections have been sold at fundraisers or at Haubstadt’s Dewig Meats on Fridays. Schmitt drops off rolls at funeral homes to acknowledge those whose services she cannot attend. Her baked goods also appear at North Posey and Gibson Southern high schools’ proms, volleyball matches, and football games. “On a cool night, what is better than a fresh cinnamon roll?” Schmitt asks.
She is busiest from September through December. “Cinnamon rolls and pumpkin rolls go better in cool weather. It’s work, but it’s fun,” she remarks. “I’m glad I can do what I do.”
