BBB Holiday Apple Kuchen

This was such a yummy challenge for December's buddy time.  I baked mine the weekend before Christmas and it held beautifully until then.  We reheated individual pieces in the toaster oven.  The original BBB post was for a lovely apple kuchen.  I had some cranberries leftover to use up and decided they would be just perfect in a holiday kuchen.  I mean don't these colors just shout out their festiveness?

I did change the topping just a hint by adding in some oats.  So the result is somewhere between a yeasted coffee cake and a crisp.  Just delicious.  Since I used spelt, I ended up putting in another half cup of flour so it wasn't too thin a batter.  It was much more a batter and less a dough than I was expecting.  But still turned out fabulous.  We had ours with butter melting on top but it would be great with a powdered sugar lemon glaze or the yummy sounding cream cheese topping in the actual recipe.  (Mascarpone or creme fraiche would be great there too.)  And here is the recipe to try it out as provided by Provecho Peru:

Holiday Apple Kuchen [BBB]

Yield: 12 servings

Source: Adapted from BH&G Holiday Baking 2009 Magazine

Ingredients

Crumb Topping  (I added ¼ c oats)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter (I used 4Tbsp)
Apple Kuchen
• 2 1/4 - 2 3/4 cups flour, divided
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Demerara // granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups apple slices (I used 3 plus 2 cups chopped cranberries)
• 1/3 cup panela // brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca (I don't do quick tapioca - I used 2Tbsp flour)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice (I used a homemade whatever I thought was good blend)
Cream Cheese Topper
• 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 whipping cream
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Preparation

1. CRUMB TOPPING: In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
2. APPLE KUCHEN: Grease a 13x9x2 baking pan; set aside. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour and the yeast; set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, heat and stir milk, granulated sugar, butter and salt just until mixture is warm (120F-130F) and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture and eggs to flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of the bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes or until smooth. Beat in as much of the remaining flour as you can without the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour to make a stiff batter.
4. Spread batter into the prepared baking pan. In another large bowl, combine apples, brown sugar, tapioca, lemon juice and apple pie spice. Place apple mixture on top of the batter. Sprinkle with Crumb Topping. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
5. Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 30 minutes or until top is browned and apples are tender. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.
6. CREAM CHEESE TOPPING: In a small bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in whipping cream and powdered sugar.
7. Cut into 12 pieces and serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of Cream Cheese Topper on each piece.  

http://www.provechoperu.com/2012/12/holiday-apple-kuchen-yeast-bread/