Welcome to my Kitchen

Love that German food and wish you could take the weekend menu home with you? The Odessa Memorial Hospital Auxiliary has compiled a cookbook with over 500 recipes of German and local cuisine, entitled “Unser Tagelich Brot, The Staff of Life V”, available at various sites throughout Odessa. The actual recipes for many of the menu items you enjoy at Deutschesfest are in this book.

Kuchen, German coffee cake, is one of the easiest to prepare, but like most German recipes, they make enough for a week of harvest crew meals. Here is my recipe for one kuchen.

Kuchen Dough

1/4 cup lukewarm milk (110 degrees)

Pinch of salt

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 Tbsp room temperature butter

1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1 small egg, well beaten

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Pour lukewarm milk over salt, sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl. Mix until butter is melted. Stir in yeast until dissolved. Stir in egg then add flour in two additions, mixing until well combined. Dough will be slightly stiff. Let rise until double in bulk.

Meanwhile, well grease a 9 inch round cake pan and set aside while you prepare filling.

Sour Cream Prune Filling:

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1/4 cup half and half

1/4 cup granulated sugar

10-12 prune or plum halves

Combine sour cream, eggs, half and half and sugar, blending wellWhen dough has raised, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough to fit cake pan, pressing dough up the sides to the top of the pan. Place prunes in a pretty design and carefully pour custard filling over the fruit.

Streusel Topping:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup butter

Ground cinnamon

Combine flour and sugar and cut in butter until fine crumbs form. Sprinkle evenly over custard and fruit, then sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake 35-45 minutes until filling is set and fruit is tender.

Note: Thick apple slices, apricot halves or peach slices may be substituted in this recipe.

Visitors to Odessa, we welcome your recipe submissions to Welcome to My Kitchen. Mail to: P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159 or email them to: therecord@odessao

ffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in the Odessa Record office.