Thread: My mother, the time machine---

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How many of you had huge family get togethers for Easter? I remember getting together with my cousins, aunts and Uncles at Grandma's little farm house for Easter Thanksgiving and the fourth of July! There would be tons of food, fresh pies, German sausage, stuffing, yams with marshmellows, crandberry sauce and backed turkeys, ham, duck, pheasnt or goose whatever was in season, and fresh bread, rolls, and Kooga( a sort of fruit danish made by Germans who lived on the Volga river in Russia) Ummh!

wow sounds like alot of great food. I would love to have the recipe for Kooga.

I'll see if I can find it in her old church cookbook!

Man, the more I read these stories and think back on the good old days I keep hoping I'll wake up, it's still 1959 and everything since then has just been a bad dream!!!!!!!!

Me and my brothers and cousins used to rent the hay baler, flat beds, and a tractor from Dad and bale hay for all the neighbors!!!!! The money was used for school clothes (first), then we would have a big "meeting" with Dad and plan our purchases for our racing Karts for the next season....... Dad was of course the "crew chief" and made ALL the decision on when and where we went racing.... Talk about motivation to get work done around the farm!!!!! If we were goofing off when we should be working, all Dad had to say was it didn't look like we wanted to go racing too bad!!!!!! Nothing but the sound of boots running towards the barn to get chores done after that!!!!!! Everybody worked hard, tried to get along, and stayed out of trouble.......or you stayed home when the others went racing on Saturday!!!!!!

What we called Kooga was actually written as kuchen
Here is a recipe

© Tina Rupp
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Grandma Zerr’s Apricot Kuchen
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Grandma Zerr’s Apricot Kuchen
MAKE-AHEAD
VEGETARIAN
ACTIVE TIME: 1 HR 30 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 3 HRS 30 MIN plus overnight chilling
MAKES FOUR 9-INCH KUCHENS
Kuchen is a traditional German fruit- or cheese-filled yeast cake that’s common in North Dakota (Nancy Olson says it’s in countless church cookbooks) and served at any time of day. This is Olson’s adaptation of her grandmother’s version. "I love that this is a hearty, rustic, belly-filling pastry; nothing dainty about it," she says.
ingredients
DOUGH
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 large egg
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

PASTRY CREAM
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound plump dried Turkish apricots—soaked in boiling water for 1 hour, drained and patted dry (see Note)

FROSTING
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of cinnamon

directions
Make the dough: Heat the milk to 110° and transfer it to a small bowl. Stir in the yeast and let stand for 5 minutes, until dissolved. Stir in the egg. In a large bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the 4 cups of flour with the sugar and salt; add the warm milk mixture and knead at medium-low speed until a stiff dough forms, about 3 minutes. Add the softened butter and knead at medium speed until the dough is silky and soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Meanwhile, make the pastry cream: In a medium bowl, combine the flour with 1/4 cup of the sugar and 1/4 cup of the milk and whisk to a paste. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. In a medium saucepan, heat the remaining 1 1/4 cups of milk and 1/4 cup of sugar over moderate heat until the sugar is dissolved. Gradually whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture, then cook the mixture in the saucepan over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and no floury taste remains, about 4 minutes. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface. Refrigerate overnight.
Butter four 9-inch pie plates. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and flatten into disks (it will be a firm dough). On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each disk of dough to a 9 1/2-inch round. Place each round in a pie plate, making sure that the dough doesn’t extend past the rims. Cover the pie plates with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the dough has risen slightly, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350° and set racks in the upper and lower thirds. Lightly press the dough with your fingers to deflate it. Arrange the apricots on the bottom in a single layer. Spread the pastry cream evenly over the apricots.
Make the topping: In a medium bowl, combine the sugar with the flour and butter and rub with your fingers until the texture is sandy. Sprinkle the topping over the pastry cream and dust lightly with cinnamon. Bake the kuchens for 40 minutes, until the crusts are deeply golden. Transfer the kuchens to a rack to cool completely before serving.

thank you so much stovens made my mouth water as i was reading it.

Originally Posted by jyardgirl

thank you so much stovens made my mouth water as i was reading it.

so when you get done making some I'll pm you my address so you can send me some make sure you send it in a no crush box ...joe

I will remeber that Joe

Originally Posted by jyardgirl

I will remeber that Joe

well shucks girl I'd gladly trade some of my homemade apple pie, choc chip cookies or some of my grandma's blond brownies for some. but it's a shame we sooo far apart, that & the fact the wife & I would most likely eat everything before you got here because they are alllll great and easier to make...joe

Just made a batch modifying this recipe with two others, and using a quart of huckleberries I got in Montana last summer. If it turns out well I'll send the finished copy of the modified recipe. This one uses a custard middle, with Rivels(sugar, butter and flour) sprinkled on top, and the blueberries(huckleberries) in the middle on top of the dough and custard! Takes some time, but man it smells good in the oven!

Oh yeah, - that was one of the highlights of the Christmas get together. Gramma's kuchen. Everyone got a loaf. She made it until she was 99 years old

looking forward to the new recipe. and you could always mail me a sample