Cranberry Apple Noodle Kugel

A marriage of Thanksgiving and Ashkenazi flavors.

By Shannon Sarna | November 12, 2012

Last month my husband and I brought our 4 month old daughter to visit one of her two living great-grandparents. Our daughter was delighted to meet her great-grandfather, and his wife cooked us a wonderful Shabbat dinner to celebrate, which included, among many other delicious dishes, a cherry apple noodle kugel that I just couldn’t get enough of.

As I devoured the sweet kugel I had the idea that the cherry-apple kugel could easily turn into a cranberry-apple kugel perfect for a Thanksgiving side dish.

The original recipe calls for a can of cherry pie filling, which I swapped out for a scratch-made cranberry sauce made with lemon zest, sugar and water.

No patience to make your own sauce? Buy a can of whole cranberry sauce to substitute!

Ingredients

8 ounces fresh cranberries
2 tsp cornstarch
¾ cup water
½ cup sugar
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1 ½ lbs wide egg noodles (one and a half packages)
5 large eggs
3 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
½ cup margarine or butter
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon plus extra

Directions

Place cranberries, ½ cup sugar, water and lemon zest in a saucepan over medium heat. Wait until water begins boil and then add cornstarch and stir. Continue to simmer until cranberries are all soft and sauce thickens. Add a little water if needed. Set aside to cool.

Cook noodles in large pot. Drain well and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Melt margarine or butter and mix with sugar, cinnamon and apples. Separate eggs and beat egg whites until frothy and thick. Add egg yolks to sugar-apple mixture.

Add noodles and mix well. Gently fold egg whites to noodle mixture.

Spread half the noodle mixture into the pan. Add a layer of the cranberry sauce. Add the remaining noodles. Sprinkle with a very light dusting of cinnamon on top.

Bake 50-55 minutes, or until desired crispiness on top.