Fruit Kuchen
Growing up on a farm in the Columbia Basin of Washington, we had an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables available nearly year-round. This old German recipe is an easy way to use up fresh, ripe fruit. My favorites were always raspberry and apricot. Consider making two pans of it, there’s hardly any more effort and it will disappear quickly!
Fruit Kuchen
1 c. butter or margarine, softened
1 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1-1/2 c. flour
2-1/2 t. baking powder
Fruit of choice (see below)
Sugar & cinnamon
Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs one at a time, until well blended. Then add vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder. Blend into creamed mixture slowly. Pat this dough into an ungreased 10”x15” cookie sheet or jelly roll pan (pan should have edges on it, not the edgeless sheet type). Overlap fruit pieces onto dough, or put spoonfuls of puree on top of the dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350° for 40-55 minutes. Let cool in pan and cut into squares for serving. Kuchen also freezes well.
Fruit that works well:
2 quarts canned apricots, drained (or fresh apricots, quartered)
About 3 c. fresh rasperries, blackberries, marionberries or blueberries
3 c. thinly sliced apples (sprinkle with more sugar if of the tart variety)