In our post about Brigid, we talked about how she was closely associated with the farm, ale, butter, and cows. She was also known for traveling the Irish countryside, blessing households as she went. To make her welcome, people would put bread and fresh butter outside on the windowsill.
A piece of white cloth or a white silk ribbon was hung on the outside of the front door for the Saint to bless. The faithful would also lay out rushes (the same kind that are used to make the St. Brigid’s cross) for her to kneel on while blessing the household.
It is traditional to make fresh butter for Saint Brigid’s Day, and in many regions, the menu for the day features a special oat bread.
Okay, so this is not the traditional Saint Brigid’s Day oat bread (here’s a recipe for the more standard version, which admittedly, would go much better with the—also traditional—glass of ale). But this bread does contain oatmeal and it is really, really good (kind of like a semi-healthy cinnamon roll). Maybe this one for breakfast—and the other for dinner??
Deliciously scented cinnamon ornaments are fun and easy to make with just applesauce and ground cinnamon. Use roughly equal amounts and mix to get a cookie dough-like consistency. I started out with one of those single serving containers of applesauce and added cinnamon (nearly a whole jar) until it looked right. Knead the dough and work it a little with your hands and then roll it out to about 1/4″ thick, just as if you were making cookies. Use cookie cutters in whatever shapes you like to cut out your ornaments, and use the end of a straw to make a little hole at the top for hanging. I ended up with 12 medium-sized ornaments. 
But there is cinnamon in the famous 
…it’s probably cassia. And that’s the way we like it, apparently. True cinnamon comes from a tree of the laurel family in Sri Lanka. Pretty much everything we consume in the US that is labeled “cinnamon,” is actually from a close cousin, the cassia tree, which grows in Vietnam, China, Indonesia and Central America. In a blind taste test, all the varieties of cassia were rated higher than true cinnamon, which has a somewhat milder flavor.
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