ok, i looked at the recipe, read the reviews, and then thought about it overnight. Here's my take... 1st I used a smaller, non-stick baking pan 8 x 8. I cooked about 1/2 (or a little more) of the noodles. I did NOT cook then al dente, we are making pudding, not green beans, pasta dinner or peanut brittle! So I cooked the noodles until soft. Rinsed w/cold water, then in a bowl, I mixed 2 eggs, 1/2 cup condensed milk (regular milk should be fine, cream for the holidays!). Then I added a dash of salt, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla, and about a tbsp of cinnamon. I poured it over the noodles, covered the pan with tinfoil, and baked (in my toaster oven!) at 325ø for 30 minutes. In a word, Yum! Great recipe, just need a little adjustment. The Noodles on top were NOT tough, and the overall consistancy was good.

Gee, hindsight is wonderful... wish I'd read the reviews for this recipe first! If so, I'd have covered the top before baking, but now I know. I hope to fix something like this again, but will probably modify the recipe somewhat or look for a different one.

I tried it, and much like the other reviewer, the top was tough. I only baked mine for 45 minutes, and it was already brown on the top! Perhaps covering the noodle pudding would have been more helpful. I've also discovered another trick to making this desert more desirable. I popped the noodle toughness into the food processor with some hot milk. After blending it to oatmeal consistency, I was quite satisfied with the results. Oh, I also went overboard with the cinnamon which is why mine probably tastes better. I used closer to a full teaspoon of cinnamon on the top of the pudding instead of just 1/4 tsp. I also used almonds because those were the nuts I had, and it worked out very well. Use whatever nut you prefer. Happy baking!

I spent a lot of time this year, trying 5 different kugel recipes. By the time I'd tried them all, I finally figured out the main problem with all of them was: no directions to cover the darn thing while it was cooking. If, after the pudding is set, you want to brown the top, then turn the broiler on for a few minutes (2-3) and remove the cover. However, all of us came to the conclusion that the best was simply to leave it covered the entire time. Of all the recipes I tried, my family liked this one the least. It was not bad, but it was tough on top (and could be corrected by covering during cooking) and the flavor was a bit lacking in the traditional kugel (pudding) taste. Also, eventhough we all like nuts, the unanimous opinion was that walnuts would have been better than pecans.