Judy’s Sweet Noodle Kugel

kitchen_at_shomreiThis month’s recipe is one of Jewish cuisines signature dishes.  A Google search turned up over 140,000 hits for this dish. Served hot or cold, as a dessert or a side dish, dairy or pareve it’s always satisfying. A cook can rarely go wrong with noodle kugel.

This dish has a German origin and is traditionally called lokshen kugel. The Polish version added fruit. A version from Jerusalem combine caramelized sugar and black pepper.

Today’s kugels can be sweet or savory and made with everything from raisins to cherries to cranberries, zucchini to potatoes to kale.Photo by Zayabibu

But you can never go wrong with this recipe courtesy of Judy Wildman who got the recipe from her mother. It’s easy, fool proof and thoroughly traditional and has become Shomrei’s signature kugel with added fruit. It is easy to double, freezes beautifully and can be made with low fat ingredients.

Sweet Noodle Kugel

INGREDIENTS:
½ stick butter or margarine
1-12 oz. package of noodles (I prefer medium width but any will work)
1 ¾ c. cottage cheese
1 c. sour cream
3 T. sugar
½ c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ¾ c. milk
sugar and cinnamon mix for the top
OPTIONAL: raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, apricot preserves, or other fruit of your choice including apples.

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350o
2. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan or use a non-stick pan.
3. Boil the noodles according to package directions. Drain.
4. While noodles are cooking, melt the margarine or butter and mix with the cottage cheese and sour cream.
5. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar and mix well.
6. Mix the noodles with the cottage cheese/ sour cream mixture. If using fruit, add it to the mixture. Spoon into the prepared pan.
7. Then mix together the ½ cup sugar, 4 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and the 1 ¾ cups milk. Mix well and pour on top of the noodle mixture. Take a fork and move the noodles around so that the liquid egg mixture seeps into the kugel and gets absorbed.
8. Top with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon to taste. (Or, for a nice crunch, top with crushed Special K, cinnamon and sugar as my mother-in-law did.)
9. Bake for 1 to 1 ¼ hours at 350 degrees. The kugel should be relatively firm on top.

TO FREEZE:
Cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and foil. Partially defrost at room temperature, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes in a 350O. Test by inserting a small sharp knife into the center. If it comes out hot, the kugel is done.

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