What's Baking: My Mom's Peach Kuchen

We're headed over to our friends' house for dinner tonight, and of course we couldn't go empty-hande, so I offered to make some sort of dessert. While at the local organic market this afternoon I spied a big pile of organic peaches and I decided to make my Mom's peach kuchen. What is a kuchen, you might ask? According to my quick Google search, "kuchen" is the German word for "cake," and comes in many different forms. This recipe features a cake-like bottom, fruit topping, and oatmeal-sugar topping. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and you've got a delicious dessert!

Peach Kuchen (printer-friendly version)
makes 8-10 servings

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 cup organic skim milk
4-5 organic peaches, pitted and sliced

For the topping:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 9"x9" square baking dish. Set aside.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. Cut in the butter.
4. In a separate bowl, combine together the beaten egg and milk. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture, and stir until well blended together.
5. Spoon the dough into the prepped baking dish and spread evenly to cover the bottom of the dish.
6. Cover the surface of the dough with overlapping fruit slices.
7. In a small bowl, combine together the sugars, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in the butter.
8. Sprinkle the topping overtop the fruit slices.
9. Bake in the over for 35 minutes, or until the fruit is tender.
10. Serve warm or cooled with freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.