Kute Kuchen

My grandmother, a very traditional German farmer housewife, was known for her baking. One of her specialties was a pastry called “kuchen” (which is “cake” in German). Kuchen is a tasty pie-like dessert with a round dough crust and custard filling. Some use fruit mixed in the filling, but sugar or cheese is sometimes used instead. Often it is topped with cinnamon.

It is actually the official state dessert of South Dakota.

Grandma was visiting us one time back in the 1970s, and I came home from school to the wonderful scent of freshly-baked kuchen. She noticed me eyeing the table full of different ones she had baked.

Grandma: “You can have a slice.”

I took one of the fruit ones (my favorites) and cut a tiny piece out of it.

Grandma: “You can take more than that.”

Me: “But Grandma, then there won’t be any left!”

And off I went with my almost whole kuchen, leaving her first flummoxed, then beaming. Until her dying day, many years later, she loved to tell that story.