FRESH PEACH KUCHEN

Almost too pretty to eat. That's what I said when I opened the oven door and took this Fresh Peach Kuchen out of the oven. I told my husband it was too pretty not to take somewhere so others could see it. He told me I could take it out front on the sidewalk and announce to the neighbors to come look at it, but tell them they couldn't have any of it. Now that would be terrible! 

This is the second peach dish I have made in the last two days. The first one, from one of my Amish cookbooks, was called Perfect Peach Cobbler. I loved the peach portion, but we were not too fond of the "cake" part. I was going to be really disappointed if this recipe of Mrs. Harven E. Hehr from Fayette, Iowa wasn't good. It sounded so good. I found the recipe in Number One Women's Circle Cookbook of 500 recipes copyright 1963. (I paid 50 cents for it at an estate sale last week.) 

Well, it didn't disappoint any of us. I just need some fresh peaches to make it again.

FRESH PEACH KUCHEN

1-1/4        cups sifted flour
1/4           cup sugar
1/2           teaspoon salt
1               teaspoon baking powder
1/2           cup butter
2              egg yolks
2              tablespoons milk
4-5          fresh peaches
3/4          cup sugar
1/2           teaspoon cinnamon
2              tablespoons flour
2              tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 8 x 12 - inch pan with butter. (My pan was 8 x 11 - inches and I forgot to spray it and it was fine.)

Combine the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, salt, and baking powder with a whisk.

Cut in 1/2 cup butter.

(If you thinly slice the cold stick of butter, you can "cut" it in with your electric mixer on low. I do this all the time when I am using cold butter.)

Beat egg yolks slightly and

add the milk.

Then add to mixture.

  

Spread over the bottom and slightly up the sides of the pan.

(I always drop hunks around the bottom of the pan

leaving a little to fill in where needed in the pan. If you wet your fingers, it is easier to spread the dough around on the pan.)

Slice the peeled large peaches and arrange in rows on top of dough.

(I cut up 4 of my 5 peaches and laid them out to see if I needed all 5 peaches. I didn't.)

Combine the last 4 ingredients - sugar, cinnamon, flour, and butter and blend until crumbly.

(I combined the sugar, cinnamon, and flour together first.

Then thinly sliced the butter.

Started using a fork and ended up just using my hand to break the butter up and combine it well with the dry ingredients.)

Sprinkle evenly over the peaches.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Serve with cream while warm if you like. (We just ate ours plain. To good to cover up the taste of the fresh peaches.)

One of the boys next door, Sean, is German and I sent him a picture of the finished kuchen and asked him if he had ever had Fresh Peach Kuchen. He said his grandmother always ended up making cobbler so he guess technically he hadn't. I invited him and the rest over to taste it. They loved it. Sean also tried to teach me how to pronounce kuchen. I tried but told him I would have to pronounce it the Americanized way. (My phone recognized it and spelled it correctly when I spoke it into the phone.) 

In case you missed it, you can read how to peel peaches easily and quickly HERE.