ITS AS GOOD AS THE MEMORY!

 Do you ever long for a special meal, or soup, or cake, or cookie from someone who is no longer with you?  Something that a special person prepared without even knowing the effect that food item had on you, and maybe not realizing the effect they had on you, themselves?  Maybe you didn't realize their effect on your either - until they were gone!

I was a very lucky person growing up.  I had so many special aunts who in their own way helped shape the person I am today.   Each one gave me something special - some skill, some advise, some wonderful memory that I can relate to only them.  

It might have been a story of my ancestry, or a lesson in crochet, a warning about the perils of youth...  A lesson in gardening, a passage from the Bible - a shared family recipe....

One of my Aunts, made the most amazing Apple Kuchen.  From the time I was just a little snot, I remember her in her kitchen on the farm, encased in her generous hand-made apron, rolling out dough on her kitchen counter.  Her home always smelled of baking, and warm milk, with a tiny hint of fresh hay added to the mix.

She said Kuchen, with the German way of pronouncing a K.  Like the K was caught deep in her throat and she had to get it to her tongue first before she could spit it out.  No one said Kuchen like her... at least no one, I knew.

And the taste!  My Golly, the taste!  Her warm Apple Kuchen right out of the oven had no description at all - just pure taste followed by complete satisfaction.

Being a kid, I wolfed it down in less than two bites, but even so - even now, I remember the flavour.

So I started trying every Kuchen recipe I could find.  None of her family had her recipe, because she never used one.  Of course she didn't - that's why it was so darn perfect!

None of the recipes I tried were anything like her KKKuchen.... ( that's not a typo)!

Until last week...

I was back on the hunt again, and found a recipe that turned out to be really good, actually - it is almost the same, but not quite as wonderful as My Aunt Anna's Apple Kuchen recipe.

I have actually figured out the missing ingredient in every recipe I have tried -  it's her - she is what is missing.  Her and her generous home-made apron, her kitchen that smells like baking, warm milk with a hint of fresh hay, and her pronunciation of Kuchen.

As it turns out the recipe could not be any simpler than it is.

So just in case you have had this very same dilemma - I'm going to share the recipe I found, with you.

Enjoy!

Apple Kuchen

1 cup flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup butter

Mix with pastry blinder and press into a  8x8 square pan

..............

4 cups apples peeled and sliced

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together and place on top of crust in pan.

.........

Topping:

1/2 flour

1/2 cup sugar

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix together and sprinkle on top of apple layer.

Baker at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.  Refrigerate leftovers ( if you have any)