I know Passover and Easter have long since passed, but I’ve been slightly backed up with my listings. My mom’s friend from high school, Claudia, is a fan of Cupcake Rehab (hi Claudia!). She lives in Colorado with her husband, her adorable dog, Sir Charles and a bird named Luigi. She shared this recipe of hers with my mom and my mom made it for Easter. Since it was a big hit around here, I thought I’d share it with you. It’s a sweet noodle kugel made with apricot juice. What exactly is kugel, you ask?

Kugel (Yiddish: קוגל kugl or קוגעל; IPA: [ˈkʊɡl̩]) is a baked Jewish pudding or casserole, similar to a pie, most commonly made from egg noodles (lochshen kugels) or potatoes, though at times made of apples, spinach, broccoli, cranberry, or sweet potato. Usually served as a side dish on Shabbos and Yom Tov.

The name of the dish comes from the Germanic root meaning “ball” or “globe” (see de:Kugel_(Gericht)); thus the Yiddish name likely originated as a reference to the round, puffed-up shape of the original dishes (compare to German Gugelhupf — a type of ring-shaped cake). Nowadays, however, kugels are often baked in square pans. There is a common association of this word to the Hebrew k’iygul (“as a circle”), but this is a folk etymology.

It’s extremely easy to make and can be eaten as a sweet side dish or dessert. The awesome thing about it is that not only does it come together quickly, but kugel can be made savory or sweet.

CLAUDIA’S AMAZEBALLS SWEET NOODLE KUGEL

First you get together:

• 1 ¾ sticks of butter
• 3 ounces cream cheese (6 tablespoons)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup apricot juice
• 8 oz. egg noodles
• 2 cups corn flakes
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Then you:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Butter a casserole dish or baking pan. Boil the egg noodles until soft. Add the 1 stick of butter and place in casserole.
3. Cream together the cream cheese and ½ cup sugar (can be done with a mixer or in a blender). Beat in eggs.
4. Add milk and apricot juice slowly and mix well. Pour over noodles.
5. Melt the remaining ¾ stick of butter. Mix with the corn flakes and cinnamon. Top the noodles with the corn flake mixture.
6. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes.

It was a huge success over here. I don’t like apricot, so I didn’t have any myself, but the way people were “oohing” and “aahing” over it leads me to believe it was delicious.

The recipe is easily doubled, but if you’re making it in a blender, make each batch one at a time. Otherwise it’ll be too much for your blender. If you’re using a mixer, then don’t worry about it.

Share this: