Apple Kuchen and Chicken Meatloaf "Muffins"

Ever since my trip to Germany in October of last year I have been thinking about the fabulous apple dessert I had my first day there. Apfelstrudel. It was apples wrapped in a pastry dough, dusted with confectioners sugar. Ordering it I spoke my first German and was so proud when I was understood. (I spent several months teaching myself how to speak German listening to CD's while driving).

I recently came across a recipe for making an Apple Kuchen from Recipes from a German Grandmother. The site is full of all kinds of German dishes, as well as links to all things German. When I saw the pictures of the dish Apple Kuchen, I knew I had to try it. I had everything on hand I needed to make it and figured it would be a good way to spend an afternoon at home.

Very simple recipe, easy to put together. I have to confess that I messed up several of the steps. I made it while looking from my laptop to my counter where all the ingredients were and back to the laptop. The recipe on the site is laid out with a lot of pictures and few words. I guess I was looking more at the pictures and less at the words and put things together in the wrong order, or missed somethings all together. (Hangs head in shame.) I am surprised it came out at all!

The dish is good, but not great. Maybe it would have been better had I followed the directions correctly. :) I think the addition of raisins would be great. I also think half the amount of dough would be better. Seemed too thick around the edges. I  think thinner slices of apples would have been better. I like my apples soft and these still had a little bite to them. And nuts. I think nuts would be good too. But, over all, I did like it. It's apples, cinnamon and custard. The custard is almost an afterthought. Just a little moisture in the dish. But, try it for yourself, see what you think.

                              Apple Kuchen with Custard and Streusel Topping

Ingredients:

Basic Coffee Cake Dough

2 eggs, well beaten
1/4 cup milk, warmed
1 pkg. (or 1 tablespoon) dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup butter (1 stick, melted but not hot)
1/4 cupsugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
3 cup flour, more if needed

  

Pour lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar in mixing bowl. 

Add melted (not hot) butter, warmed milk, salt, lemon peel, and beaten eggs. Mix well.
Add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each cup. Add more flour, if necessary, to make a smooth dough, and turn out onto a floured surface.
 Knead very lightly.

Let rise for about 1 hour; punch down and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile prepare apple and custard toppings.

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Apple Topping
4 medium sized apples (I used 2 Grannies and 2 Galas)
1/3 C. vanilla sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 cup melted butter (This was one of the things I missed while putting this together)

Peel and core apples, then cut into ¼ inch slices.

Spread dough in 2 well-greased 9-inch round or square cake pans, pushing it up on the sides as for pie crusts. (I used a 13x9" pan instead of two 9" pans)
Stagger the apples in rows(or in random fashion if in a hurry) on top of dough. Drizzle melted butter over the fruit and crust, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. (Totally missed this step too and just tossed everything together in a bowl like I would for an apple pie) Let the dough rise for 30 minutes.

Bake for 10- 15 minutes at 375 degrees to set the crust. (Missed this step too! :} So embarrassed!)

Remove from oven.Top with the custard and the crumb topping. If you want you can just add the crumb topping and bake it without the custard.

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Custard
1 beaten egg
1 cup cream or 1/2 cup sour cream with 1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 

Crumb Topping
1 2 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 

Cover the apples with the custard.

Then sprinkle crumbs over the custard and continue baking at 350° for 30 minutes longer. Until the custard is set and the apples are completely cooked.

Cool and cut in squares and serve topped with whipped cream. Store in fridge, this cake

gets better after a day. It will keep for a week at least properly stored.



 The other recipe I tried yesterday was one of my own creations and it turned out fabulous! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of it as I wasn't thinking about posting it in my blog.  I had some ground chicken and decided I wanted meatloaf. I added some carrots, onion, green pepper, egg white, bread crumbs, fresh rosemary, and a little barbecue sauce, stirred it all together and then used a large ice cream scoop and put two scoops of the mixture into the openings of a large muffin tin. I had 8 ounces of ground chicken and it made 4 -2 scoop meatloaves. I baked them for about 35 minutes. They smelled delicious cooking and tasted just as good. The bottom had just enough of the crust I like in a meatloaf. You could see the carrots and green pepper peeking out. They were moist and so good! I think I surprised myself with what I created and just how good it was. I served it with some brown and wild rice, fresh baked Artisan bread and a green salad...dinner was healthy, easy and delicious!

Chicken Meatloaf "Muffins"

8 ounces ground chicken (or turkey)
2 small carrots, peeled and finely diced
1/4 green pepper, finely diced
1/4 yellow onion, finely diced
1 twig of fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 egg white
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Using an ice cream scoop, measure out two scoops of meat mixture into the openings of a greased large muffin tin. Drizzle a small amount of barbecue sauce over each "muffin". Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes, or until thermometer registers 180 degrees. Enjoy!