Sour Cream Kuchen: A Canned Fruit Recipe

I have had this recipe for Sour Cream Kuchen for years and made it just this last week as I had a pretty much brand new thing of sour cream that was already tasting like it was going to start going bad on me.  I had a bunch of it left, so just putting it in tacos or something was out, so I searched through my old file of handwritten recipes that I had collected for years and found this one.  I have made it on and off over the years.  I believe I originally got it out of a "Taste of Home" magazine from a LOONNNNGGG time ago, but I really can't be sure.  I wrote it down in my book of recipes is all I can really tell you.  The nice thing about the cake is that it calls for canned fruit.  I've made it with peaches, pears, fruit cocktail even.  All were good.  The cake has a cookie like crust, kind of like a lemon bar crust.  The center of the cake is a tasty fruit filling and then the top is a nice and savory custard type of concoction made with sour cream and eggs.  

I have found that while the original recipe calls for egg yolks, I have a few times forgot to separate my eggs (gotta love mom brain) and just used the whole eggs and it came out just fine.  This time I purposefully used the entire egg as I didn't want to potentially waste an egg if it separated wrong.  I'll make notes to what I changed in the recipe.  If you have sour cream in the house, though, and would like to eat something different, pull out a can of fruit from your pantry and go to town!!!

Note that the original recipe called for Peaches if you want a good starting point to work from.

Canned Fruit Sour Cream Kuchen

Ingredients:

Fruit and Crust Part:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1 can fruit of choice, drained (I prefer peaches or pears.  This would be standard can size, so like 15 oz can size)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Other spices (optional):  I use about 1/8 tsp of ground ginger and 1/8 tsp of nutmeg if I'm using pears to help up the flavor profile a bit since pears tend to be milder tasting than other fruits.

Custard Topping:  

• 2 egg yolks (or use whole large eggs)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

 Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Grease bottom of an 8 x 8 inch baking dish.  I use non-stick cooking spray.  This just makes it easier to extract the cookie crust later on.

3.  Mix 1/4 cup sugar with flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Cut in butter chunks into flour mixture (I use my finger tips to do this, but you can use a pastry blender, a couple of forks, a couple of knives, a food processor...whatever you find works best) until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Press mixture into the bottom of a 8 x 8 inch baking dish...try not to push it down too hard as it can get pretty dense and hard to cut if you are not careful.  

4.  Take remaining 1/2 cup sugar and mix with the cinnamon and other spices (if using).  Take drained fruit pieces and place evenly over crust and then pour the cinnamon and sugar mixture evenly over the fruit.

5.  Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees or until crust is golden.

6.  While the crust is baking make the custard topping.  Mix egg yolks (or whole eggs) and sour cream together.  Mix again after you pull the crust from the oven and then pour the mixture over the still hot crust.  Combine the 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and the 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the custard topping (or, if you are in a hurry or don't read it right you can just add the sugar and cinnamon directly to your egg and sour cream mixture...it'll come out fine).

7.  Bake at 400 degrees for an additional 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Can be served hot or cold (I prefer cold).  Refrigerate leftovers.

Enjoy!