Streusel Kuchen Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; cut in shortening until mixture resembles fine crumbs. In another bowl, whisk egg and cream; add to crumb mixture, tossing gently with a fork until mixture forms a ball. , Press dough into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Arrange plums over crust., For topping, in a small bowl, combine flour and sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add cream, mixing gently with a fork until moist crumbs form. Sprinkle over plums. , Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Steps:

• GERMAN YEAST DOUGH: Scald the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. You will see steam rising from the surface of the milk and small bubbles forming around the edges. Remove the pan from heat and let stand until the milk feels warm to your fingertip, about 10 minutes; an instant-read thermometer should register 110 to 120ºF. Sprinkle the yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar into the milk and stir well. Let stand for about 10 minutes, until the yeast is bubbly and foamy. To make the dough using a stand mixer: combine 2-1/4 cups of the flour with the remaining sugar in the bowl of the mixer and add the butter and lemon zest. Attach the flat beater and mix on low speed for about 3 minutes. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the flour looks mealy. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand, add the yeast and eggs, and stir with a rubber spatula to make a moist, thick dough. Switch to the dough hook and beat on low speed for 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes, or until the dough becomes sticky and elastic and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Scrape the bowl and the dough hook. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon flour over the dough and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, 1 hour or more depending in the warmth of your kitchen. Lightly flour your work surface. Dislodge the dough from the bowl with a pastry scraper, scrape it out onto the work surface and turn to coat all surfaces lightly with flour. Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a ball, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 10 minutes. The dough is now ready to use. Note: if you are using only half the dough, place the second ball of dough into an airtight container and refrigerate it. The next day, shape and bake it into another Streuselkuchen. MAKE THE STREUSELKUCHEN: Butter a 9-inch square baking pan* (do not use cooking spray - the dough must adhere to the pan). Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to the size of the pan. It will be about ¼ inch thick. Transfer the dough to the pan and pat it onto the bottom and into the corners. Do not make a rim; the dough should be flat. Cover with a kitchen towel. To make the streusel crumb topping, put the flour, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and butter into the work bowl of a food processor (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment) fitted with the metal blade. Pulse 5 or 6 times, then let the machine run just until the ingredients begin to form small crumbly masses, about 30 seconds. Do not process beyond the crumb stage. Uncover the dough. Press the crumbs to form clumps the size of large peas, and sprinkle on the top of the dough. Continue making larger lumps of streusel and sprinkling them evenly all over the dough. There will be a generous layer of streusel covering the dough. Cover the Streuselkuchen with a kitchen towel and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Uncover the kuchen and place the pan in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the kuchen has risen almost to the top of the pan and is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into its center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately sprinkle the top with a generous layer of vanilla confectioners' sugar. Cool completely on a wire rack. This is at its best when very fresh. Cut into portions with a sharp knife. NOTE: I used a 20cm (8-in) square pan and it worked fine.

Steps:

• In a food processor, add 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 egg yolks, and 1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks, cut up into pieces).
• Pulse until mixture is crumbly and butter is incorporated into the flour (be careful not to overdo it).
• Put mixture in a 13x9 pan which has been sprayed with butter-flavored cooking spray (or, use additional butter).
• Spread mixture and pat down.
• Heat open jars of jam in the microwave for a minute or two so that jam will spread easily over the crumb mixture.
• Spread the 1.5 jars of jam over the mixture in the pan. (Pro Tip: buy three jars so you have enough jam for two batches!).
• Repeat steps 1 through 4 above, but this time pulse a little longer so that the crumb mixture is a little chunkier (not much though!) and sprinkle over layer of jam.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until golden brown.

Steps:

• For streusel:
• Mix first 4 ingredients in medium bowl. Add melted butter and stir with fork until moist clumps form. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
• For cake:
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Butter and flour 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Toss apple slices, cinnamon, and cloves in medium bowl. Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt into another bowl. Combine butter, powdered sugar, and lemon peel in large bowl; scrape in seeds from vanilla bean.
• Using electric mixer, beat butter mixture until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition; beat in egg yolk. Add flour mixture and beat just until blended. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan (cake layer will be thin). Slightly overlap apple slices atop batter in concentric circles. Sprinkle streusel evenly over apples (streusel will cover apples).
• Bake cake until streusel topping is crisp and tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 15 minutes. Remove pan sides; cool to lukewarm. Serve lukewarm or at room temperature. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool completely. Wrap cake in foil and store at room temperature.

Steps:

• To make streusel: Mix sugar, cinnamon and flour together; cut in butter to make fine crumbs. Add vanilla and nuts.
• Cream butter, sugar, salt and egg yolk.
• Add milk alternately with flour and the softened yeast cake.
• Beat well and add stiffly beaten egg white; cover and allow to rise overnight.
• Add just enough flour to allow handling; roll pieces of dough into flat cakes, large enough to fit piepans.
• Spread on well-greased pie pans, cover and let rise until doubled.
• Brush melted butter over top and spread with streusel OR sprinkle thickly with brown sugar instead.
• Bake at 400F about 20 minutes.