Kuchen

My family grew up on Grandma’s Kuchen (German Coffeecake – so not like what most people call coffeecake today.). Grandma would make a lot of dough and turn it all into a whole lot of Kuchen. That Lovely lady passed away in December of 1999 at the ripe old age of 100. When she was gone our Mother took over for her Momma and always made sure we and our kiddos had lots of Kuchen as well. Sometimes so much so that we wanted to tell her to stop (But never had the heart to do so.). When we opened CJ’s Kitchen, we always had Kuchen on the menu – and sometimes it was hard to keep up.

For those of you who have been patiently waiting for my Grandmother’s Kuchen recipe, here is how she built them. The following recipe is for the cream topping that she used. The base is the Grandma’s Never Fail Bun Dough recipe that I published in my cookbook (page 6).

I’ll give you some filling ideas at the bottom of the topping recipe.

Kuchen Cream Topping

1/2 cup Sugar

2 T flour

Dash Salt

2 Eggs

2 cups Heavy Cream

In small bowl, blend together the sugar, flour and salt. Beat eggs into flour mixture and set aside. Pour cream into a medium size saucepan then whisk flour and egg mixture into cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring or whisking constantly until thickened (do NOT boil). (Pudding consistency. It will thicken more as it cools.) You can use the topping hot or cold.

Filling suggestions:

At CJ’s Kitchen, the best seller by far was Rhubarb. The second best seller was Apple and then seasonal was Peach. Others we sold often were Cherry and Blueberry.

For a Rhubarb, Apple or Peach filling:

4 cups Rhubarb (fresh or frozen) or 4 cups fresh apple, sliced thin or 4 cups fresh peaches, sliced thin

1/4 cup Sugar

2 T Cornstarch

1/2 tsp Cinnamon and 1/2 tsp Nutmeg

In microwave safe bowl, cook rhubarb, apples or peaches until soft. For rhubarb, drain liquid. For apple and peach, keep liquid. Then blend in sugar, cornstarch and spices. Cook fruit and sugar mixture until thick, stirring a few times. Cool. This should be enough fruit for 1 pie size Kuchen.

If you prefer a Cherry or a Blueberry filling, buy the best canned filling you can find (with extra fruit is best). For the cherry – I just poured them on top of the base but for the blueberry I used a layer of fresh blueberries and then half of the canned fruit on top of that.

So, to put it all together.

Roll out a large fist size ball of Grandma’s Never Fail Bun Dough. Line a greased pie pan with the dough. With your fingers or fist, press the dough up the sides of the pan.

Pour whatever filling you choose into the dough lined pan, then top with the Kuchen cream topping. Sprinkle with Cinnamon Sugar and bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

It is aways best to let your Kuchen cool before cutting into it as the hot fruit will slide into any vacant spot you leave.

I hope you enjoy! I have for the past 64 years!