Cooking: Plum Apricot Kuchen (Recipe)

Nothing I've made lately has flooded me with memories as dramatically as this Plum Apricot Kuchen. I took one warm bit and thought, "ohhhh, just like my mom used to make!" 

I thought this recipe was lost to me, but my sister found a couple handwritten cards in one of my mother's recipe boxes. There were two versions of the ingredient list, but no instructions. I looked online but couldn't find the version I remembered: baked rather thin with a simple, but rich, butter crumb crust. So I gave it a go based on what I remembered. And it worked! I love it! 

You have to try it. My mother made a plum kuchen but I couldn't resist using some apricots too. (Some of these lasted long enough!) Click to view the recipe and tutorial.

PLUM APRICOT KUCHEN

• 4 large plums (ripe but firm) sliced about 1/3" thick
• 8 large apricots (ripe but firm) sliced about 1/3" thick
• 4 sticks of butter (2 cups) at room temperature (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 lemon for squeezing
• cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling (about 1/2 cup of the mixture)

 Preheat your oven to 350-degrees.

With a stand or hand mixer mix together the butter and sugar until the butter is fluffy. Add the almond extract and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix until the dough comes together. It shouldn't be gooey but it shouldn't be too crumbly. It should be about pie crust texture so it holds together. If your dough doesn't look like this you can add a bit more flour to get here:

  

 

Dump out dough onto a greased (there is so much butter you probably don't really need to grease it, but I did, so just to be sure...) jelly roll pan, or large cookie sheet. (Mine measures 13"x18".)

Press the dough into the pan with your fingers so it is evenly spread. It doesn't need to be totally flat.

 Now the fun part: arrange the plums and apricots on the dough. I chose alternating stripes. Squeeze half a lemon over the fruit.

Sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350-degrees for one hour. The crust should be golden brown around the edges and lightly firm. The fruit should have released some bubbly juices.

Serve warm!

This would be really tasty with a bit of heavy cream poured over it, or some vanilla ice cream if that is your speed (I would take the cream over the ice cream) but I love it plain. It's hardly plain. There was hardly a crumb left.