By Kevin Williams
A few weeks ago I had the "tough job" of participating in a bake-off at the Chrisholm Amish Farmstead in Ohio. I was joined by Crystal Corbin and Ada Beachy as judges. Ada is a New Order Amish woman from Berlin, Ohio was there because her husband gave a wonderful talk for those of us assembled. We tasted 17 different desserts and I'll be posting about many of them over the next week. Today, how about an amazing Amish peach kuchen recipe?
Ada was a superb judge, fun, witty, and laser-focused taste-buds. Fellow non-Amish judge Crystal Corbin was thorough and organized and that helped too.
One of the desserts that we tried was a "peach kuchen." I love an entry from Farmer's Almanac entitled "What the Heck is Kuchen?"
If you don't have time to read the article,basically, it is this:
Kuchen (pronounced “koo-ken”) is the German word for “cake,” but a real kuchen is so much more than that! Traditional kuchen is like a delicious mash-up of cake and pie, topped with creamy custard.
The peach kuchen I sampled didn't have a classic custard top, so I am sure there are various versions of kuchens....this is a delicious one and if you have some peaches to use up, I'd highly recommend this one. It was kind of a cross between a cake and pie infused with the flavor of fresh peaches, so, hey, winner in my book.
This was an amazing Amish peach kuchen recipe
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 /4 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick of butter
- 10-12 peach halves
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix in butter with two knives until the consistency of cornmeal.
- Sprinkle mixture over the bottom and sides of a greased 9 inch pan. Place peaches cut side up over the dough.
- Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon and egg yolks and cream. Mix and pour over over peach halves.
- Bake at 400.
Claudine
This Peach Kuchen looks so good! My husband was stationed in Germany during the mid to late 1960's so I got to eat authentic kuchen while I lived there. It was mostly apple, but good none the less! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I am making it very soon.
I'd like to comment on your sweet daughter Aster's coloring page. It is really very pretty and very well done. I know that you will frame it for safekeeping. I can hardly believe she and Bea are growing up so fast. I remember you posting when they were born. Such pretty little ladies.
Claudine in Fort Worth, TX
Kevin
Thanks, Claudine, SIGH, they are growing up too fast for sure!