On the Menu and Apple Kuchen

Hope everyone had an absolutely W O N D E R F U L Thanksgiving?  Ours was spectacular since it was spent with family and friends.  As usual, the bird required more time in the oven than what we had planned which messed up my schedule:

7:45 AM – 8:30 AM – Prepare stuffing and turkey then put in oven.

11:00AM – Tofurky in oven

12:30 PM – Remove Tofurky – set aside.  Remove Turkey and tent * The turkey removal didn’t happen, internal temp wasn’t even close to 175 F.

1:00 PM – Put the desserts on the table.  Heat the lasagna.  Cook then mash the potatoes.  Prepare sweet potatoes.  Steam the beans.

1:30 PM – Roast the sweet potatoes.  Roast the zucchini strips.  Begin the Shrimp Scampi.  Heat the rolls.  Make the gravy.

2:00 PM – Dinner, but no.  We didn’t eat at 2 because the turkey didn’t come out of the oven until 1:30 which set me 1 hour behind due to oven space issues.

When we did  eat, some items  weren’t hot enough.  The end result however, was a success.  We ate and drank and enjoyed. 

Here’s the menu:

It seemed the most popular of all the sweet desserts was the Apple Kuchen.  What a surprise!  Due to it’s popularity, I’ll share…

APPLE KUCHEN

Did you know that kuchen, the German word for “cake” is  used to describe different desserts and/or pastries?   It was designated as South Dakota’s state dessert in 2000 and it can be a pie with a cake like crust and sweet custard filling, or a rolled, filled pastry, a coffee cake, or a cheesecake with a yeast-raised crust.  All this information was found in an article from Modern Baking.

This is my version of Apple Kuchen and based on a recipe from cooks.com.

Makes (1) 13 x 9 pan of delicious Apple Kuchen

• 1/2 cup room temperature unsalted butter
• 1 package of yellow cake mix
• 2/3 cup flaked coconut
• 3 cups of peeled, cored, sliced apples
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 well rounded tsp. of cinnamon
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 large egg.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Cut the butter into the cake mix, add the coconut and mix to resemble a crumb mixture.  Pat into a greased 13 x 9 x 2 pan and bring it 1/2 way up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes.

Pour the apples into the warm cake-crumble crust. 

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.  Beat the sour cream, vanilla  and egg together.  Drizzle the sour cream mix over the apples. Top with sugar – cinnamon mix. 

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until edges are brown. 

DELICIOUS!

What was your favorite dessert this Thanksgiving?