Ingredients:
12 oz dried wide egg noodles
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup sour cream (regular or light)
2/3 cup PLUS 1 tablespoon sugar (divided use)
1/3 cup chopped candied Italian citron
6 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon Cognac or brandy
1 tablespoon dry curacao
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Boil the noodles until soft. Drain and toss with butter in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whip together the mascarpone, ricotta, sour cream, 2/3 cup sugar,  eggs, cognac, curacao, and allspice until smooth. Stir the mixture into the cooked noodles. Fold in citron bits. Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish*. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and remaining sugar.

Bake for 60 minutes uncovered. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*We actually made 1 8×8 and a 1 1 1/2-quart so we could take some and leave some at home for us to enjoy later.

My thoughts:

One of the best things about Hanukkah is that it lasts for 8 days so you have plenty of time to eat yummy food! We had our faux-Thanksgivukkah in October to so I could perfect my recipes to share with all of you but yesterday was actual Thanksgiving and we went to my parents’ house. My mom makes most of the food but we normally bring something and this time, it was kugel in honor of Hanukkah. Let me tell you, it was so good. We normally are savory kugel people but this one was delicious and not crazy sweet. Matt had the idea of using Italian cheeses in it to make it extra fancy and tasty and that morphed into a sort of cannoli-inspired kugel. He bought half a citron at our local Italian store (and it was still too much, I’m so glad they were happy to halve it for us! We’d be eating a whole citron for a year) and some imported ricotta and mascarpone. Using quality ingredients really makes a difference in such a simple dish. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out; everyone loved it, even those who were new to the kugel. It was creamy without being over-the-top rich and very comforting.