German Peach Kuchen– a Transylvanian dessert made with peaches, custard and a shortbread crust. Delicious, easy to make and perfect for summer.
This is a very popular recipe in the Saxon cuisine of Transylvania, peaches and custard baked to a chewy, gooey perfection on a tender cookie crust. Can be made all year around with canned peaches, but try the fresh ones in the summer first.
Served hot with ice cream or cold by itself, the recipe is so popular that I even found a version of it in a Saxon Cook Book published in 1955 by the Transylvanian Saxons immigrated to United States. It is by far, the best recipe from all the variations I found and tried out there.
Transylvania has a rich cuisine that was always a blend of influences from multiple ethnicities. Germans, Romanians, Hungarians and other nationalities lived together in peace for many years and shared their cultural heritage with each other.
This is a wonderful dessert that, for many of you out there who have a connection with Eastern Europe, might bring sweet memories back to you.
The Kuchen can be baked in an 8 inch round tart pan, or a square one. Use half peaches or sliced ones.
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- Crust:
- ½ cup/4oz/115g unsalted cold butter
- 2 cups/8.8oz/250g sifted all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon/2g baking powder
- ½ teaspoon/4g salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar ( from the filling )
- Filling:
- 1 cup/7oz/ 200g granulated sugar divided (remove 2 tablespoons for the crust)
- 12 peach halves
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup/8oz/226g heavy or sour cream
- Preheat oven at 400F/200C.
- To make the crust:
- Work butter, flour, baking powder, salt, and 2 tablespoons of the sugar together, until mixture is like cornmeal. Pile into an 8 inch non greased round or square pan and pat an even layer over bottom and half-way up sides of pan with your hands.
- Place the peach halves cut side up on top of the crust in a nice pattern. You can also use sliced pieces. Sprinkle mixture of cinnamon and remaining sugar over peaches. Bake 15 minutes.
- Filling:
- Mix egg yolks and cream together, pour over the peaches and bake 30 minutes longer.
- Serve hot with ice cream or cold.
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