Recipe: Apricot Kuchen (a.k.a. How to Cheat and Get Away With It)

Sounds lurid doesn’t it? But like the lead-in of a magazine article or infotainment broadcast, this subtitle isn’t nearly as lurid as you might imagine.

If you’ve been reading Inn Cuisine for a while, you might recall in April, I featured a peach kuchen recipe submitted by innkeeper Sue Blansett of the Brackenridge House Bed & Breakfast Inn in San Antonio, Texas. Since this version of Apricot Kuchen is based on Sue’s recipe, how does this recipe differ from the original?

For one, it’s made with apricots and secondly, it’s made without eggs.

Now mind you I have nothing against eggs (actually, they are one of my favorite foods), and it’s important to realize that I did not intend to make this kuchen without eggs. In fact, when I began preparing it for a visiting guest as a spontaneous after-dinner treat, I was sure I had eggs on hand as I tend to buy eggs in multiple cartons at a time, usually by the dozen & a half per carton. (Did I mention I like eggs?) And let’s just say when you become accustomed to having anywhere from 6-36 eggs on hand, it can come as quite a shock to go the the refrigerator and discover you have none, zip, zero.

With my batter halfway prepared and no eggs in the frig, my kuchen delight turned to kuchen dismay, “I can’t finish this dessert,” I admitted to our guest. “I don’t have any eggs.”

“No eggs?”

“Not a single one.”

It should come as no surprise that I was in no mood to run to the grocery at 8:25 on a Saturday night. Worn out from a *hard* day sunning and splashing at the pool (with the kids of course), cooking all afternoon, cleaning house and entertaining on the deck that evening (need I say wine was involved), making an unplanned kuchen seemed like expending enough energy and my rear car wasn’t traveling anywhere.

“Do you have mayonnaise?” our guest asked. “I read recently you can substitute mayonnaise for eggs when baking and in a pinch.”

“Really? That’s interesting. Must be all the oil,” I said, suddenly realizing mayonnaise has egg in it. “What about adding extra oil?” I asked. “Or water or applesauce? Or is applesauce what you substitute in place of oil? I can’t remember.”

Turns out my guest couldn’t either.

When plagued by a poor memory and hit with such a conundrum at 8:30 PM, where does any desperate host turn, besides rummaging through her pantry? Google, where else!

Huddled around my laptop, we furiously Googled eggs, egg substitutions and egg substitutions when baking. Recommendations flooded in from across the internet:

• 1 heaping tablespoon soy flour plus 1 tablespoon water to replace 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 2 tablespoons flour, plus 3 tablespoons water (whisked) to replace 1 egg
• 1/2 a ripe banana plus 1/4 teaspoon baking powder to replace 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise to replace 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch plus 3 tablespoons water to replace 1 egg
• dissolve 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin in 1 tablespoon cold water, then add 2 tablespoons boiling water and beat until frothy to replace 1 egg
• 1/4 cup silken tofu for 1 egg

I am not endorsing the use of anything but eggs in your baking recipes, but when faced with either scraping the batter you’ve already made and disappointing your kuchen-craving guest, or carrying on to the best of your ability, albeit with a hint of forewarning (“I’m not sure how well this will turn out,” makes the point nicely), I always suggest carrying on in spite of setbacks.

Opting for the mayonnaise substitution (it seemed easiest and this way my helpful guest bore some of the responsibility, I know—bad host, bad host), I crossed my fingers and proceeded full speed ahead. Miraculously, the crust turned out well and I couldn’t discern a noticeable difference from making the crust with egg. The mayonnaise substituted crust not only baked well, it held up well, cut well, served well and tasted great. What more could you ask for when serving kuchen to a hungry crowd? (There were, after all, more than 2 of us.)

Moral of this story: make sure all your ingredients are on hand before beginning to bake.

Second moral of this story: if you’ve already begun to bake and suddenly discover you have no eggs on hand, remember this post and rest assured, there are ways to cheat and get away with it!

Recipe: Apricot Kuchen

(recipe adapted from Sue Blansett, owner of the Brackenridge House B&B, San Antonio, Texas)

For the Crust

• 1/2 cup softened Butter
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 Egg
• 1 cup Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt

For the Filling

• 28 ounce can halved Apricots, well drained

For the Topping

• 3 tablespoons Sugar
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, to taste
• a handful of Maraschino Cherries to garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees for baking.

Assembly

Grease a 9 inch spring form pan.

In a small bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, beating well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level off. Add flour, baking powder and salt to butter mixture, blending wet and dry ingredients thoroughly.

Spread dough over the bottom and up 1″ the sides of spring form pan. Arrange apricots halves in a circular fashion over dough. Sprinkle top with sugar and cinnamon, and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Cool 10 minutes and remove sides of pan. Garnish with drained, maraschino cherries if desired.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

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