A Brunch Bunch Favorite - My Recipe Rotation - Apple Kuchen

The countdown to the start of our annual adventure has begun. We will be spending October in Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. For most of the trip, I will not have access to the internet, so I've put the blog on autopilot to assure you have something to read when you link here. This year, I've picked 35 recipes from my personal recipe rotation to share with you while I'm gone. When, and if, I am able,  I'll bolster these recipes with pictures and verbal reflections of the trip.  November should see the return of business as usual. Hopefully, we'll be able to talk before then. 

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The Silver Fox comes from a family of German ancestry. His mother was a fabulous pastry cook and her kuchen puts any I make to shame. That, however, does not keep me from trying to best a pastry whose taste, I'm certain, has been enhanced by memory. While it is a bit of work, I love the kuchen I'm featuring today. The aroma of apples and fall spices brings back memories of a childhood that included bonfires and the smell of burning leaves that was enhanced, of course, by the aroma of cinnamon and cloves melding in the oven. I find it impossible to think of a fall kitchen without apples and this kuchen is so pretty, and, I might add, so tasty, that if I could only pick one apple dessert to last a lifetime, this would be it. The kuchen first appeared here in November of 2008. Here's what I had to say about it at the time.

Giant "Killer" Coffee Cake Muffins

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I suspect I'm a contrarian. While it's not deliberate, I swim with the salmon and often find myself heading upstream while the rest of the world is heading down. This afternoon, despite a refrigerator packed with holiday food, I could find nothing that I wanted to eat. It was raining hard, so my remedies were limited. I could brave the deluge or I could bake. Had I not just placed a log on the fire, I'd have been out the door in a New York minute, but that log sealed my fate. If I wanted something sweet I had to bake. I decided to make these muffins because, while they are easy to make, they are also delicious and I knew just one of them would set the world right and end my cravings. The recipe, which comes from Midwest Living magazine, is a new take on a favorite old-fashioned coffeecake. The recipe is scaled to make 6 large or 12 regular sized muffins. I decided to use large muffin cups because they seemed like less work and would make clean-up easier. I am not at this point in the holiday weekend, much into marathon cooking, and the 15 minutes it takes to make these muffins matched my attention span and energy level. The recipe is straightforward and easy to follow. The muffins have a lovely soft crumb and I know those of you who try the recipe will love them. I do have one thought to share with you. I think these muffins are best when served barely warm and I like to get them to the table right after they're removed from the pan. They will, however, keep for about a day before they begin to stale. Here is how these cinnamon and nut-topped muffins are made. Do try one. They make the world a better place.