German-Russian Kuchen: Grandma's Recipe

Kuchen, fresh from the oven. Yum!

Once a year or so, when the air is cold and the snow is blowing, I bake a batch of  my German Russian grandmother's kuchen. Kuchen, pronounced "kooga", is the food from Grandma's kitchen that I remember best.

There was always kuchen at Grandma's house. She baked it at least once a week, and she made eight or ten at a time. Kuchen was usually dessert, but it could also be breakfast or an anytime snack with coffee or milk fresh from the cows.

My grandparents. Circa 1946

Each time I bake kuchen, I am swept back in time and find myself with my grandmother in her fragrant, farmhouse kitchen. It's 1947, and I'm five years old. There's is a big, black, wood burning stove, polished to a shine, and  mismatched wooden chairs gathered around a long table covered with an oilcloth tablecloth. A hand pump sits over the kitchen sink, and pink depression glass cups and saucers are neatly stacked in the cupboard. Grandma bustles around humming softly, as she churns up wonderful fragrances that make my mouth water. Her hands and apron are covered in flour, but she stops to give me a kiss on my forehead. Sometimes she gives me a bit of pie dough and helps me turn it into sugar and cinnamon roll-ups. If she's baking bread or kuchen, I get to help with the kneading. I may be a child, but I'm already learning about cooking and baking.

My mother didn't enjoy cooking or baking, and kuchen is time consuming.  After my grandmother passed away, I only got to taste this special pastry when we visited my aunts in North Dakota. All six of my red-headed aunties were cooks who followed the old traditions. If they didn't have freshly baked kuchen, they could more than likely find one in the freezer.

When I was married and settled in my own kitchen, I asked my aunties for the recipe. It's easy, they said. You just make a sweet dough, layer fruit on top, and pour egg custard over it all. Not one of them could give me measurements. Making kuchen was so instinctual, that they never thought about how much flour or how many eggs. They just put it all together.  Years later, when three of them were visiting in Lincoln, my daughter gathered them in her kitchen. They baked the kuchen with my daughter while I wrote down the steps and the measurements along the way.

I've modified the recipe a bit since that day, but it still makes five or six kuchen. Fortunately it freezes very well, so we can make it last for a couple of months.

German-Russian Kuchen
Makes five 9" kuchen or six 8" kuchen

Lightly grease five 9" pie pans or six 8" pie pans.

In addition to dough and custard, you will need about five 15 oz cans of canned fruit. 
Traditional fruits include sliced peaches, apricots halves, sliced pears, or seedless plums. Dried prunes are often used, too.

Drain the fruit, and pat it dry with a paper towel. Soak prunes for fifteen minutes or more in warm water to soften them. Cut the prunes in half. 

Sweet Dough

• 4 c flour
• 1 tsp salt  
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c butter, room temperature
• 1 c warm milk, divided
• 1 pkg yeast
• 3 eggs, room temperature, 

1. Place flour, salt, sugar, and butter in a large bowl. Mix to a fine crumb as you would a pie crust.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm milk. Beat the eggs with a fork. Add the eggs, a pinch of sugar, and the remaining half cup of warm milk to the yeast mixture. Let it rest for a few minutes until it develops a thick foam on top.
3. Make a well in the flour mixture. Pour the yeast liquid into the well.
4. Mix the dough with a spoon or your hands. Place it on a lightly floured board.
5. Knead briefly, just enough so it forms a shiny ball. Do not overwork the dough. If the dough is too dry, you can add a little milk or water.
6. Put the dough into a lightly greased bowl. Turn to cover with a thin film of oil and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place.
7. Let it rise until double in bulk, 1 - 1 /2 hours.  

If the kitchen is cool, I heat the oven very little, to about 150 degrees, then I turn it off and place the bowl of dough inside. If the oven is too warm, the yeast can be killed or the dough can rise too fast and be ruined.

Dough rising in the oven, custard cooking in the double boiler.

 While the dough is rising, make the custard.

Custard

• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 c sugar 
• 3 c cream or half and half
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• cinnamon

Mix all of the ingredients with a wire whisk or hand mixer. Cook the in a double boiler, stirring constantly until the custard begins to thicken.

If you don't have a double boiler, cook it in a heavy pot over low heat stirring constantly. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot as you stir to prevent scorching.

Assemble the Kuchen

Kuchen dough with fruit layered on top. I made peach and apricot kuchen.

1. When the dough is ready, punch it down. Divide it into either five or six equal pieces. Cover it with a towel and allow it to rest for ten minutes. 
2. Shape each piece of dough into a flat pancake. 
3. Place the dough into a pie tin, and use your fingers to spread it evenly over the bottom and 1/2" to 1" up the sides. 
4. Top with a layer of prepared fruit. 
5. Carefully pour equal amounts of custard over the fruit layer. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. 
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until the dough is  golden brown. 
7. Cool on a wire rack

Kuchen in the oven. Smells good already.

 Slice each kuchen into six or eight wedges. It can be eaten either warm or cold. It's delicious either way. Wrap tightly and keep in the refrigerator for no more than one or two days. Any excess kuchen can be stored in the freezer for up to a six weeks.

Yum!! So good.

Wishing you a fantastic Thaknsgiving!

A New Robe and a Family Favorite Cookie Recipe

 The Robe

I did it! I rarely sew for myself, but I actually found the time to sew a new robe. Lovely, soft, warm flannel in beautiful turquoise blue. It's roomy and warm with enough length and  fullness to wrap around my ankles at night.

It's hard to see the details with the light behind me. 

A better photo in a shorter mirror.

 The Recipe

I only bake these little morsels of delicate yumminess for very special occasions.  They are far too rich for everyday nibbling. Crunchy nuts and sweet fruit preserves contrast beautifully with a melt-in-your-mouth, buttery cookie base. It's hard to eat only one.

Jelly Filled Swedish Butter Cookies

Half are filled with sour cherry preserves, half with fig preserves.

• 1 c. butter
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg, separated plus the white of a second egg
• 1 T. cream
• 1 t. vanilla 
• 2 c. sifted flour
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts 

1. Heat oven to 350º F. 
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
3. Add the egg yolk, cream, and vanilla. Mix well
4. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Stir into the butter mixture until smooth.
5. Beat both egg whites lightly with a fork.
6. Form dough into small balls, about 1" in diameter.
7. Dip dough in the egg white, then roll in the chopped nuts.
8. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet.  (I lined the cookie sheet with parchment paper.)
9. Make a small indentation in the center of each ball. (A finger is about the right size, but I used the rounded end of a wooden spoon.)
10. Fill the indentations with preserves. 
11. Bake for about 20 minutes.
12. Allow to cool slightly on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
13. Handle carefully as these are very fragile when warm.

In the oven and almost baked.

YUM!!

Yikes! 

Only 16 days till Christmas! 

Still no tree, no decorations, no cards sent out and several batches of cookies yet to bake. 

I'd better get busy!

Log Cabins and Bean Soup

The Log Cabins

I'm been sewing log cabin blocks while dressed in a warm winter sweater, thick socks, and my fleece lined winter slippers. Our record breaking warm weather has abruptly been replaced by bitter cold and a brisk north wind, so I couldn't have picked a better project for this week. A log cabin with a big fire in the fireplace sounds so warm and cozy right now.

So far, I've been following the original plan, but now that the log cabin blocks are finished, I'm not completely sure that I want to finish it like this.

I'm using 9" blocks, so I have lots of options and space for experimentation. It doesn't hurt that I'm not feeling pressured to have this finished by any particular date.
  
A Recipe for Ham and Bean Soup

Winter weather and hot soup are perfect companions, so my kitchen soup factory is back in business. This week, I cooked up a pot of old-fashioned ham and bean soup - perfect comfort food for a day that requires fuzzy slippers and warm socks.

Grandmother's Bean Soup With Ham

• 1 medium onion, chopped 
• 1 T vegetable oil
• 1 15 oz can of chicken broth 
• 4 or 5 oz ham cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/4 cup grated carrots
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried dill weed
• 2 cups water
• 2 15 oz cans of cannellini beans
• 1 T ketchup
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• salt, if needed (I found that the ham was sufficiently salty, so I added no additional salt.)

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan. Saute the chopped onions in the vegetable oil until golden.
2. Add the chicken broth, ham, carrots, bay leaves, parsley, dill weed, and water.
3. Cover and cook on medium low for 30 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.
4. Add the cannellini beans, pepper, and ketchup. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes. Add additional water if needed.
5. Remove bay leaves to serve.

Enjoy! 

And keep warm!

When Sewing Doesn't Go Well..

What do you do when you are frustrated because your latest project isn't turning out the way you'd expected? 

I bake. Sometimes I cook up some soup, but usually I bake.

The new quilting idea had looked wonderful on paper in black and white, but it didn't translate at all well into my chosen Christmas fabrics. Instead of agonizing over it, I took refuge in the kitchen. I baked zucchini bread one day and chocolate cake the next. 

The baking led to a discovery that made me wonder if my mom is still looking after me. 

I had picked up a huge zucchini earlier in the week because it reminded me of my mother's garden. She grew zucchini every summer and she grew them big. She used much of it to bake zucchini bread. I went searching for the perfect recipe, but I really wanted my mother's bread. I found a recipe with a five-star rating on All Recipes titled, "Mom's Zucchini Bread".

It was worth a try.  I cut the sugar down to 2 cups and added 1/2 cup of raisins to the recipe because Mother's zucchini bread had always contained raisins. The result was wonderful. My new recipe tasted exactly like I remember my mother's tasting. Moist, perfectly spiced, and sweetened with raisins. Positively scrumptious!

The next day, I was still unable to focus on sewing, so I baked a chocolate cake from a well loved recipe in my go to cookbook for baking. I've used this cookbook over and over since I found it in a used book sale in 1980.  It was so well loved that the pages were falling out. My wonderful baking book would soon be destroyed if I didn't do something to save it. Since I had nothing else that needing doing, I removed all of the pages, punched holes in them, and placed them in a big purple binder.

That's when I found this stuck between two pages. It's my mother's zucchini bread recipe in her own handwriting. I must have placed it there years and years ago and totally forgotten that I had it.

Mother's zucchini bread recipe.

The main differences between my mother's recipe and the one I found in All Recipes are that my mother's contains only 2 cups of sugar and it has raisins. These are the exact two changes that I made!

Compare the two recipes by following this link to All Recipes:

Happiness is a slice of warm zucchini bread. 

With raisins. 

Thank you, Mommy. 

 

The Splendid Sampler Gallery and Peanut Butter Cookies

I'm the only one sharing Splendid Sampler photos this week, so I've added the recipe for yummy peanut butter cookies to the end of this post. 

The Gallery

In spite of the new pattern and working on my second purse, I actually managed to keep up this week! Three new blocks have joined my collection. One of them was even a bonus block. 

 

Block 13, "Scrap Stars", is one of my very favorites so far. Once again I had to face those itty-bitty pieces that plague me. I did cheat a tiny bit and used paper foundation piecing for the flying geese to get my points precise. I managed the rest of it the old-fasioned way. the combined techniques worked well for me. 

I loved Pat Sloan's bonus block! It's simple and elegant. With no tiny triangles to make, the piecing was quick and  easy. The designers have thoughtfully balanced the tricky blocks with quick and easy ones.

"Flying High", block 14 appeared in my inbox Thursday morning. The birds are beautiful, but they almost did me in. I was determined to applique these three silhouettes by hand. I've never been successful with hand applique, but everyone says that it only takes practice. I ruined the first three birds with needle turn applique. I'm not a quitter, and I wasn't about to give up so easily. I got out the freezer paper. This is supposed to be surefire. 

Forty-five minutes later another three birds hit the trash. By now half the morning had gone by, six birds were headed for the landfill, and one 7" square of background fabric was beyond repair. I gave up. I got out the fusible web and whipped those babies onto a background in no time.  Thank you, my trusty machine blanket stitch.You never let me down.

 

After all of that I went upstairs and baked a batch of peanut butter cookies. I ate two cookies while they were still warm. They were delicious, and I'd earned them.

Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

  

Method

1 Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugars, cream for 2 more minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. Mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into the sugar butter mixture.

2 Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

peanut-butter-cookie-2.jpg peanut-butter-cookie-3.jpg

3 Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. 

*4. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15 minutes.

*Note: After 10 minutes my cookies were still slightly uncooked in the middle. I gave them the full 15 minutes, and they were perfect. 

 

Quilt Blocks and Banana Carrot Bread

 This week has been wonderful! Not only have I had enough energy to be able to play a bit in my sewing room and in my kitchen, but the weather has been nice enough to open windows and go for afternoon walks.

Sewing Room Play
 
I couldn't wait to start work on a new block design. I'd been toying with it on paper for a couple of weeks and it was ready for fabric. I was determined to use only fabrics that I had on hand. The pink and soft green fabrics felt fresh and spring-like, so that was my starting point. . The first attempt in fabric was okay, but boring. I felt like it really needed more color. I switched out only one fabric, but the difference is dramatic. Today, I'll begin trying to turn this into something - still not sure what, but definitely something. 

One photo taken in the morning, one taken in the afternoon. The colors change in the light.

I've joined a quilt-along group, "The Splendid Sampler", with Pat Sloan and a number of other designers. There will be 100 blocks altogether - two each week. This is the link:    http://www.thesplendidsampler.com/

I'm not at all pleased with my second block, so I may make it over later on. I didn't notice until I looked at the photograph, but some of my points got chopped off. I definitely need to work on perfecting a number of my skills and this is a pleasant and painless way to do so. I'll have 100 blocks at the end, too. A whole quilt!

Kitchen Play

Bananas were overripe, carrots were starting to get dry on the outside, and my golden raisins were almost finished. What do you do when you have food that needs to be used or tossed? This time I did toss it - all into one recipe, and believe me, this is a keeper! It's sweet and moist and simply chock-full of flavor and texture goodness. 



Banana-Carrot-Raisin Bread 

Makes 2 Loaves

Yum!!

2 ½ c sifted flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 c. mashed ripe bananas

1 c. sugar

¾ c. softened butter

3 eggs

1 c. finely grated carrots

½ c. chopped walnuts

½ c. raisins

1 tsp. sugar + 1 tsp. cinnamon for baking pans

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Grease two 9”x 5”x 3” loaf pans.  Mix 2 tsp. sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon. Sprinkle half of this mixture onto the bottom of each pan. Tip the pan to spread the sugar/cinnamon mixture so it coats the bottom and the sides of the pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Combine bananas, sugar, butter, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Stir in dry ingredients. Don’t overmix. Fold in carrots, raisins, and walnuts.

Spread mixture into loaf pans. The pans will be about ½ full. 

Bake at 350° for 50 – 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

 

Wishing you a lovely week with lots of playtime! 

 

Sailboats, Beef Stew, and a Question

It's been a cold, typical January week, but while I sat at my desk bundled in fleece, I concentrated on summer, sailboats, and the deep blue sea.  The summer thoughts resulted in a mug rug, and the keeping warm resulted in comforting beef stew. 

The Sailboats

Blue skies, blue sea, and two sailboats ride the waves. I'm so looking forward to warmer weather. 

"Sailboats"

Old-Fashioned Beef Stew

I wouldn't exactly call this a recipe because I basically tossed some beef and veggies into a pot and let it simmer, but this is how I made it. I didn't start this until mid afternoon, so I cooked the stew beef in a pressure cooker while I was getting everything else together. If you have more time the stew beef can be cooked in a pot before adding the vegetables. I much prefer using fresh herbs, but I was limited to the ingredients in my pantry.

Yum! Beef stew with a crusty baguette on a cold winter's night.

Ingredients: 

The measurements are estimates because I tossed in what looked good to me. You will need to adjust the vegetable proportions and quantities to suit your own taste.

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 lb. stew beef
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 4 stalks of celery cut into 1" strips
• About 1 1/2 cups of baby carrots
• 3 or 4 small to medium potatoes, cut into 1 1/2" cubes
• 1 T dried parsley flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• A pinch of dried thyme
• A sprinkle of ground cloves
• 3/4 c frozen green peas
• Salt & pepper
• Water 

Almost done. This is gently simmering, but peas haven't yet been added. 

1. In a pot or pressure cooker, saute onions in olive oil until translucent and lightly golden in color. 
2. Add stew beef to the pot, brown on all sides. Add water to cover and cook until tender.
3. Toss all the other ingredients except for the peas into the pot. Add water to cover the veggies. Some of this will evaporate during cooking, but if you like the stew to be more soup like, you can always add more water.
4. Cover and simmer on medium low heat until the veggies are cooked through and the juice has thickened. (30 minutes to 1 hour) 
5. Add the peas into the pot. Simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes to heat the peas through. Serve.

The Question

I'm working on an idea for a quilt about sewing/quilting. I want to place some words on it, and I'd like your input. Rather than the names of tools or items used in sewing, the words should be more descriptive of feelings or thoughts you might associate with it. What words come to mind when you think of sewing or quilting? 

Keep Warm!!

Fuzzy Comforts and Christmas Spaghetti with a Secret Ingredient

It's the day after Christmas and all is quiet in our house, exactly the opposite from yesterday's wonderful hustle and bustle, laughter and cookie snitching. The family began arriving around 9:30 in the morning and stayed for the entire day. We started with breakfast and ended with our famous Christmas spaghetti dinner. (The recipe is below.) We were too full of cookies and good food to have any interest in dessert. I am truly blessed.

We are in no danger of being cold this winter. My son dressed us all in matching fleece jackets, and I handed out five warm fleecy robes. Yes, they were finished, and with time to spare!

There is nothing that needs doing today. Such a luxury! I've spent the whole day lounging in my chair reading the latest Inspector Gamache novel by Louise Penny, and I have no intention of doing anything more energetic than that.

Christmas Spaghetti Sauce With Meatballs 
(and a secret ingredient)

I was so busy enjoying my family that I forgot to take photos of our dinner table. The spaghetti was served with fettuccini and accompanied by lots of fresh veggies and warm garlic bread.

This is a large recipe. There were seven of us, and I made a full crockpot of sauce so that there would be plenty left to send home with everyone.

Once again, the measurements for ingredients are close estimates, but not exact. I don't usually measure at all, but I let my taste guide the proportions. I made the sauce the day before Christmas, then reheated it and added the secret ingredient on Christmas day.

Meatballs
I don't add herbs or spices to the meatballs because they absorb their flavor from the sauce as it simmers.

• 3 pounds ground beef
• 2 medium onions
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop the onions in a food processor or grate them.
2. Thoroughly mix all ingredients together. 
3. Shape into balls. I made the meatballs about 2 inches in diameter, but smaller is fine.
4. Brown the meatballs. 
5. Refrigerate until needed.

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 6 - 8 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1 bunch (about 1 cup)  of fresh parsley, chopped fine, or 2 tablespoons dried
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped basil leaves or 2 teaspoons dried
• 3 bay leaves
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 sweet green pepper, diced
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, diced
• 3 or 4 baby carrots, grated
• 4 cups cooked, chopped tomatoes (I used tomatoes that I had prepared and frozen during the summer, but canned is fine.)
• 2 small cans of tomato sauce (8 oz)
• salt and pepper
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (This will add flavor and thicken the sauce at the same time.)
• 3 or 4 cups of water 
• salt and pepper to taste

The Secret Ingredient

• 1 - 3 oz. Bristol Cream Sherry (Another high quality cream sherry would do, but don't use cooking sherry or dry sherry.)  

1. In a heavy skillet, fry the onions in the olive oil until they are golden brown.
2. Add the garlic, parsley, and basil to the pan. Continue frying on medium low heat until the herbs are wilted.

 3. Add the peppers grated carrots. Fry for another minute or two. 

4. Pour the contents of the pan into a crockpot. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushroom soup, salt and pepper. Stir until blended.

5. Add enough water to give the sauce a nice consistency - not too thick, but not watery.
6. Place the meatballs in the pot. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or more. This can simmer all day if you like.
7. About ten minutes before serving pour an ounce or two of the cream sherry into the sauce. Stir and taste. More sherry can be added if you like, but be careful not to overwhelm the the other flavors with the sherry. The sherry should sweeten the sauce a bit with a unique, but subtle fragrance and flavor.

Enjoy!

Now, to get back to my book. I love this series!!

A Thanksgiving Day Birthday Cake

If you love chocolate and if you love cake, I have the link to a perfect recipe for you.

Every Thanksgiving Day, after turkey and all the fixings have had time to settle, I bring out dessert. I don't serve pumpkin pie or any other kind of pie. For us it's a chocolate birthday cake and a celebration of the three family birthdays that fall within a few days of Thanksgiving.

The cake is always our favorite chocolate truffle cake - the downright decadent, drown yourself in chocolate heaven, once a year only cake that we share on Thanksgiving. It's become our own family tradition.

The recipe is from "Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Desserts". I bought it years ago, but now the entire book is now available online. This is the link:
 https://books.google.com/books?id=4kGDCeDcxaoC&pg=PA94&dq=good+housekeeping+chocolate+truffle+cake&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjW6t_97KzJAhXMRyYKHaseC8EQ6AEIOzAB#v=onepage&q=good%20housekeeping%20chocolate%20truffle%20cake&f=false

I always bake the cake well ahead of time.
It will keep for a two or three days in the fridge, and it freezes well. 

I need to get back to my fleece! 

There's work to do!!

Only 28 days till Christmas!

Wishing you a beautiful week as December comes marching in!!