Larry and I made a final visit to the Ithaca Farmer’s Market last week. He wanted to pick up some garlic to get planted, and I was looking for kale and whatever else caught my fancy. On the way home, we stopped at the Cornell Orchard Store and picked up some gorgeous Cortland Apples. Cortlands are my favorite apples, because they are so versatile. Used fresh off the tree, or from cold storage, there is no better baking apple. They are tart and crisp and filled with rich apple flavor. Leave them out on the counter for a couple days, and they get sweeter, with a creamy succulent texture that speaks fall to me in every bite.
There are a lot of different versions of Kuchen around. Some use cake mixes, or a from scratch cake base, but I like this yeasty cake base much better. It is the perfect platform for the apples and strudel-like topping. There are a number of steps involved, but they aren’t complicated, so overall, it is super easy. This is a recipe where it pays to assemble all of the different elements ahead of time, so that it is easier to get it all put together.
In a medium bowl, combine
3 cups peeled and sliced apples
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
In another bowl, combine
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
4 tablespoons soft butter
combine well and mix in
1 cup lightly toasted walnuts [I do mine in the microwave, 1 minute at a time, stirring between – takes about 4 minutes]
In a mixing bowl, combine
1 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 envelope [2 & 1/4 teaspoons] active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
Add
3/4 cup very warm milk
1/3 cup melted butter
Beat for 2 minutes,scrape sides of bowl, and add
1 cup all purpose flour
1 large egg
Beat another 2 minutes, scraping sides as needed. You will have a stiff batter.
Grease 2 9-inch cake pans, and divide the batter between them, spreading evenly in the bottom.
Divide apples evenly and spread over the batter.
Do the same with the topping
Give it an hour in a warmish spot, so it can rise 
Bake on the middle rack in the oven, at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure the base is done. The apples will be nicely soft and the topping browned and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack for a bit. Can be served straight from the pan while it is still warm, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. If you want to present it on a plate, let it cool about 30 minutes, gently loosen the edges, and keeping the blade of a table knife under the edge, tip the pan and pull the edge onto a plate with the knife. If you greased your pan sufficiently, it should slide right out. Once it is completely cool, it is much more difficult to get out of the pan in one piece – if you look closely, you might see where this one came apart on me because I waited too long to take it out of the pan. It went right back together though, with no harm done, except to my blood pressure perhaps, as we had already eaten the one that came out cleanly and I needed to get this photo. I think it still looks quite edible though, right?
It’s pretty good for breakfast too, all by itself.
A lot of times, I send extra baked stuff to work with Larry, because the two of us can’t shouldn’t eat all the stuff I make. A suggestion that he take this to share was met with a look that intimated I was out of my mind, and a firm “No way – I’m eating this!” I guess he liked it, huh?
Other posts you may enjoy:
Fresh Apple Snack Cake
Apple Cheese Crisp
Can squash be art? If the answer is yes, that would be a good thing since I have somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty assorted squashes waiting to be cooked. I have a feeling Larry would not like the idea of turning them into works of art though – he wants to eat them for Pete’s sake! 
A bit of straightening up in the pantry reveals that I definitely don’t need to buy molasses again for awhile. I hope I can actually remember that when I am in the store. “Did I need molasses, or do I have a lot? I better get some, just in case.” Which is how I ended up with this much in the first place.
In the midst of making fajitas for dinner…
…the light on this tree catches my eye. I did remember to turn the burners on the stove off at least.
I would add a comment here about how getting old is hell, but I have always been this easily distracted, so I can’t blame it on my age. So tell me – what is distracting you these days?
Sloppy Joes are something I turn to when I am in a hurry, but I want something delicious and satisfying. In fact, I was in a hurry when I made this batch, so there are no step by step photos today. There are some 
There you have it – warm spices, a tickle of smokey flavor, topped with creamy melted cheese. A fast meal on a brisk fall day!
and I use it a lot, so it is just logical that many of these ideas are going to end up here. This soup is so easy to make and the result is so impressive that it is something you will want in your bag of tricks. You will need some roasted peppers of course and you can do them yourself by 
While that is getting started, cut 2 stalks of celery into slices – thinner than you see here. These were too thick and I ended up picking all of the pieces out to puree separately because they didn’t break down fast enough. So, only about 1/4 inch slices for the celery. Cut a medium onion into a very large dice. After the squash has roasted about 10 minutes, take the pan out and add the onions and celery. You can lay a couple sprigs of thyme in there as well, or sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon or so of dried thyme over the veggies. Add a couple large, unpeeled garlic cloves. Stir to coat the onions, garlic and celery with some of the oil, and return the pan to the oven.
Stir after about 20 minutes. It will probably take at least a half an hour for the squash to get nice and soft, which is what you want. Make sure it is very soft before you take it out. Remove the garlic from the skins. If you used thyme sprigs, strip the leaves and discard the stems. The peppers are just in the photo for illustrative purposes – they were already all roasted and peeled earlier. I used two large ones.
Working in small batches, puree all of the vegetables until very smooth. I used a food processor, but a blender would work also. If using a blender, you may have to add a bit of chicken stock to the vegetables so that they will move easily.
In a 5 quart stock pot, have about 4 cups of good chicken stock warming. Gradually whisk in the puree until it is all incorporated. If the soup is still too thick, add additional stock until it is thinned down to your liking. Add 2 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika and 1 teaspoon chili powder. Taste and add salt if needed – I added about a teaspoon of kosher salt. Bring up to a slow simmer and cook about 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of heavy cream and cook another minute. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
You can garnish with some toasted squash seeds if you like and maybe a sprig of thyme if you have it. It is rich and creamy and velvety – and the flavor is autumn in a bowl. Makes me glad I have 89 pounds of winter squash around here right now. Enjoy!
