Cool nights approach. Think thick strands of slightly sweetened pasta wrapped with a warm hint of cinnamon, and dotted with a rich and comforting filling. This may be the perfect fall dish. Our White Lotus Kitchen recipe is fun to make and you can eat this delicious noodle pudding for breakfast, dinner, dessert, or it’s perfect for the elevensies. Serve warm or room temperature, depending on your mood or the meal, but you may just find yourself sneaking forkfuls right out of the fridge.

You can dot your noodle pudding with bourbon and vanilla soaked raisins or use any dried fruit you feel a yen for. You could also simply go for using warm fall spices. Our dish has a dash of black pepper to support the warmth and flavor of the cinnamon. But you could choose cardamon and orange zest. The list is only limited by your imagination. We made our own sour cream for this dish using half and half and fresh lemon juice which added a wonderful, light lemon essence.

Have fun serving dessert for dinner as we recently did, and our leftovers for breakfast couldn’t have been sweeter.

Ingredients
8-12 oz flat pasta noodle (pappardelle is great)
12-14 oz small curd cottage cheese
1.5 cups sour cream
6 tbs melted dairy or vegan butter (4 tbs in filling and 2tbs over the top before baking)
½ cup raisins soaked in bourbon (or apple juice) and vanilla
½ cup of brown sugar (plus a bit more sprinkled on top)
1 tbs ground cinnamon (plus a dusting on top)
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper
3 eggs

Recipe
Boil noodles in a large pot of salted water. When done, strain and add a pad of butter to keep them from sticking. Set aside to cool. While the noodles are cooking and cooling, butter a baking dish and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

If making your own sour cream, add the juice of one lemon (about 1.5 -2 tablespoons) to your half and half.  The half and half will turn into sour cream fairly quickly. If using store-bought sour cream, you may want to add lemon zest to your filling.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the cottage cheese and sour cream together. Add 4 tablespoons of the melted butter and continue to stir. Add the cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt to the mixture, and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper. Next, add one egg at a time and mix into the filling. Add the raisins and save the liquid.

Add the pasta to the filling and fold until everything is combined and the noodles are well coated. Pour the noodle mixture into your buttered pan. Pour the liquid from the raisins over the top of the noodles. Drizzle the remaining butter over the top. Dust with cinnamon and sprinkle a small amount of brown sugar over the top of your noodle pudding.

Place the noodle pudding into the oven and turn the heat down to 350 degrees. Bake for 35-40 minutes. The top will get golden, and in some places slightly crispy, and the pudding will start to pull away from the sides of the dish. Enjoy every rich and comforting mouthful.