Cranberry Noodle Kugel Food

CRANBERRY NOODLE KUGEL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350f. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook noodles until tender, remove from heat and drain, rinse with cold water. Oil a 9x13 pan.
• In a blender, combine all remaining ingredients except cranberries. When blended. Pour liquid over noodles and add cranberries. Stir well until combined and pour into greased pan. Dust with additional sugar and cinnamon.
• Bake 35-45 minutes until top is golden and egg mixture is slightly firm. Allow to cool for 15 minute before serving.

APRICOT-CRANBERRY NOODLE KUGEL

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Liberally butter a deep 8-inch square baking dish.
• Fill a large pot with generously salted water and bring to a rapid boil. Cook egg noodles at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, 7 to 9 minutes.
• Drain egg noodles and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain again and mop up any excess moisture with paper towels.
• Beat sour cream, cream cheese, eggs, salt, and vanilla with an electric mixer until well combined. Mix in apricot preserves and cinnamon.
• Crush cereal in a food processor or by hand until it's broken up enough that it's no longer identifiable as cereal. Mix in softened butter until well distributed.
• Place noodles in the prepared baking dish. Pour sour cream mixture over top and stir to combine. Mix in cranberries. Sprinkle crushed cereal mixture evenly over top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the top is browned and crusty, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, checking every so often starting at 45 minutes. If the top looks like it's headed towards burning, stick some foil on the top. At the end, if the top's not crusty enough, put it under the broiler until the butter bubbles a bit and the the color gets nice and rich looking, 1 to 3 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes before serving.

EASY NO-COOK NOODLE DAIRY KUGEL

Steps:

• Butter a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
• Spread the UNCOOKED egg noodles and raisins or dried fruit into the pan.
• In a bowl in whisk the eggs with sour cream until very smooth, then whisk in melted butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt; whisk vigorously until well combined and no sugar granules remain (mix in order stated starting with eggs and sour cream).
• Whisk in the milk until combined (at this point you may add in more sugar if desired).
• Pour the mixture over the dry noodles and mix very lightly (your pan will be very full).
• Allow to sit out for 5-7 minutes.
• Set oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until the kugel is just set in the middle.
• Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.

APRICOT CRANBERRY KUGEL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325.
• Cook EGG NOODLES in well salted water to al dente. Rinse in cold water to stop the cooking and drain as much as possible, stirring noodles in colander to get all the moisture out. Set aside to allow more drying.
• Crush about half the box of CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH in food processor (or you can do this by hand. I sometimes put it in a zip-lock and crunch it up with my hands). Stop short of completely pulverizing it, but it should be broken up enough that it not longer is totally identifiable as cereal.
• MIX in softened BUTTER to CRUSHED CEREAL until butter is well distributed. Put aside (refrigerate if it will be a long time until you cook).
• In a mixing bowl, beat together EGGS, SOUR CREAM, CREAM CHEESE, SALT, and VANILLA EXTRACT. You can use an electric mixer for this, but it's really not difficult to do by hand. Everything should be well incorporated and fairly smooth, but it's okay if it's still a slightly lumpy.
• Mix in APRICOT PRESERVES and GROUND CINNAMON to taste (batter should taste good, but very sweet, since it will mellow out when combined with the noodles and baked).
• Liberally BUTTER the inside of an 8x8 baking dish (I like to use glass, but anything will work).
• Check that the noodles are pretty dry (if not, dump them on a paper towel to mop up a little more moisture.
• Transfer NOODLES to baking dish and pour in BATTER. Stir to combine.
• Add a handful or two of DRIED CRANBERRIES and mix to get it evenly distributed. Use more if you really like CRAISINS. Use less or none if you don't.
• Sprinkle topping mixture evenly over the top. I like to totally cover the surface for a nice crust.
• Insert into oven, uncovered for 1 to 1.5 hours. (depending on the oven and the baking dish, sometimes if only needs 45 minutes, especially if you like it a little looser). If you're nervous, you can check "doneness" using the toothpick method- insert a toothpick in center and once it start coming out fairly clean, it's ready to come out.
• Keep an eye on the top. It should brown, but not burn. If it looks like it's headed towards burning, stick some tin foil on the top. At the end, if the top is not looking "crusty" enough, I'll stick it under the broiler for 1-3 minutes, watching for the butter to bubble a bit and the color to get nice and rich looking.
• When the top is browned and the middle seems cooked, remove from oven and let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes (you can eat it right away if you want, but giving it time to rest, allows it to set a bit.
• This will feed a family of 4 (with leftovers for a couple of days).