Today is the Autumn Equinox here in the northern hemisphere. To get in the spirit of the season we’re reaching back to the Sept/Oct 2001 Issue of the Vegetarian Journal for a recipe from Awesome Autumn Desserts From Our Past by Debra Daniels-Zeller.

TART APPLE KUCHEN

(Serves 6)

My husband’s grandmother from Germany had a favorite kuchen recipe that she passed on to my mother-in-law. I didn’t get the recipe, but I like the idea so much I played around with it until I got a decent vegan version (pictured on front cover). The cake is traditionally made with eggs, but I found silken tofu makes a nice binding ingredient and works well in this recipe. This can easily be made with peaches, nectarines, or blueberries, too.

3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1.2 tablespoon arrowroot (or cornstarch)
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry or barley flour
1 teaspoon each: baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon
1/4 cup cold soy margarine
1/2 cup silken tofu
1/3 cup soymilk
1 Tablespoon vegan granulated sweetener with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon blended in (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 12-inch pizza pan. Place apple slices, lemon juice, maple syrup, nutmeg, and arrowroot in a bow and mix until the arrowroot is dissolved. Let sit while you prepare the crust. In a medium bowl combine flour, 1/3 cup sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly, making sure there are no small lumps of sweetener or baking soda. Cut in the soy margarine with a pastry blender or fork, mashing and mixing until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Set aside. Place the tofu and soymilk in another container and, with a hand blender or mixer, whip them together until creamy. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture. Mix with a spoon until a soft dough forms. The consistency you want is somewhere between a cake batter and brownie mixture – a little too stiff to pour and too sticky to pat out. Scrape the batter onto the pizza pan, and with lightly oiled fingers, spread it evenly to the edges of the pan. (The dough will stick to your hands if you don’t oil them a little.) The crust will be thin. From the center out lay the apple slices flat in a circular pattern, very close together, going around until the whole top is covered with apples. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sweetener, if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. The crust will be brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes. With a large spatula, carefuly remove from pan and place on a cooling rack.

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