Apricotcranberrykugel Recipes

SAVORY KUGEL

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until al dente; drain.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Mix together in a bowl, cooked egg noodles, butter and eggs. Stir until all is blended; season as desired. Pour in 2 9x9 inch baking pans. Bake for one hour.

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).

FANTASTIC APPLE-CRANBERRY APRICOT MATZOH KUGEL!

Steps:

• Set oven to 350°F.
• Grease a 3-quart casserole dish (you can also make this in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish, I used my 3-quart Corning Ware casserole dish for this).
• In a bowl toss the apple pieces with 1/3 cup brown sugar (can use less than 1/3 cup sugar if desired) and 1/4 cup fresh orange juice; set aside.
• In another bowl soak the matzoh pieces in 1 cup warm water until soft but not mushy; set aside.
• While the matzoh is soaking, in a large bowl whisk the eggs until well blended; add in the salt, cinnamon, 1-1/2 cups sugar, melted butter, cranberries (or Craisins) and chopped dried apricots; mix to combine.
• Gently squeeze the liquid from the matzohs (don't worry about squeezing all of the water out completely!) add to the egg mixture along with the chopped apples; mix very well.
• Transfer the mixture into greased baking dish.
• Sprinkle lightly with about 2 tablespoons white or brown sugar, then dot all over with the cold butter pieces.
• Bake covered with foil for about 40 minutes.
• Remove from oven uncover, then return and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes, or until the casserole is set.
• Serve at room temperature.

HOLIDAY APRICOT KUGEL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x12 inch baking dish.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
• In a large bowl, stir together the apricot preserves, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt, and mix to thoroughly combine. Fold in the cottage cheese and noodles, and spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the center of the kugel is cooked and set, about 50 minutes. Remove the kugel and top with Cheddar cheese, return to the oven, and bake until the cheese is browned and bubbling, about 10 minutes. Let the kugel rest for 10 minutes before serving.