Blueberry Kuchen

Blueberry kuchen is one of my favorite summer time desserts. The dough is both easy to make and work with, and the filling is as simple as it gets: blueberries, sugar, and cinnamon. Kuchen (pronounced coo-ken) is a German word for cake, but comes in a variety of forms. When researching the work "kuchen" I came across a plethora of definitions including: coffee cake, cheesecake-like pastry, and pie-like pastry with cakey dough. I would consider this kuchen to be basically a blueberry tart, with maybe a slightly crumblier crust.

Here are the ingredients for Mary Anne's Blueberry Kuchen:

For the dough:
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-2 tablespoons granulated sugar
-pinch of salt
-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled
-1 tablespoon white vinegar

For the filling
-3 to 4 cups blueberries (I use 4 cups)
-1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

To begin, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and wash your blueberries. I like to set the wet blueberries on a wire rack to dry. Only wash your blueberries when you are ready to use them. Waiting to wash them helps prevent mold and rotting to occur while they are sitting in the fridge.
To make the dough, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Take the chilled butter and cut into small cubes. Work the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or two knifes until it resembles coarse meal. Add vinegar and mix with hands until dough comes together. Add more flour if it is a bit too wet or sticky (depending on the humidity).
With a 9 inch spring form or regular cake pan, spread the dough with your fingers until the bottom is a 1/4 inch thick and the dough is up the sides about 1 inch.
To make filling, combine 2 cups blueberries, flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour into the crust and spread around. Do not worry if the sugar and blueberries look uneven in the pan. Once in the oven the mixture will turn into a jelly and spread evenly out.
Place in oven for about 1 hour or until the crust is a nice golden brown. Once out of the oven, sprinkle the remaining 1 to 2 cups blueberries on top and let cool completely.
Slice like a pie and serve. Place in the refrigerator if there are any leftovers!

Note: I used a 10 inch spring form pan and reduced the baking time to 45 minutes.