Tiramisu, kugel recipe, and hello from Fort Myers!

I've been away from the kitchen for a while, but please don't leave me!  I will be back!  First, I want to say thank you for reading my posts even though I've been away.  I also want to post the Kugel recipe (Jewish creamy noodle pudding) I never posted..Sorry about that Cotton Floozy!!!
Also, I've taken a picture of a Tiramisu cake I found at Fleamasters Flea Market in Fort Myers.  They were not forthcoming with the recipe. I need to study the cake and try to make it at home...I bought the whole cake because they were all out of slices.   BAD IDEA because it is the best tiramisu I have tasted.  I've been eating it for breakfast AND dessert.  Since it has coffee and cream in it, it is breakfast food, right?

Tiramisu layer cake

The top layer is an espresso cream of some sort, then there is a layer of yellow cake, then a layer of mascarpone whipped up with something, then a layer of the espresso cream, then a layer of cake.  It looks like the bottom cake layer is soaked with Kahlua or espresso or something...not sure.  If you have any ideas, let me know.

Next, I went to a Fort Myers River District restaurant called  The French Connection.  I had the most delcious hot fudge crepe ever!  It had a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream inside.

Hot fudge crepe

On to the kugel recipe which can be easily altered for diabetics.  I took a recipe from allrecipes.com  and altered it. It is Jewish comfort food, but you don't need to be Jewish to love it!!!   This is not a low calorie health food dish. 

I'd rather have a small piece of something fabulous than a large piece of blah! 
That being said, you can easily use lower fat ingredients and use sugar alternatives.

Noodle Kugel (pudding)

Recipe:

Noodle mixture:

1 (8 ounce) package medium or fine egg noodles (medium or fine is the noodle size)

8 tablespoons SALTED butter, sliced

6 large eggs

1/2 cup white sugar (or use 1/4 cup splenda and 1/4 cup agave syrup)

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons sour cream

1 (16 ounce) container of cottage cheese, creamed (in a food processor or blender)

3/4 cup golden or regular raisins

 Orange liquor and apple juice or just apple juice for soaking raisins (or any sweet unsweetened fruit juice)

Topping ingredients:

8 tablespoons SALTED butter (1 stick), melted

1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar

1.5 cups crushed cornflakes or 1.5 cups rice crispies, not crushed

Optional:

1.5 teaspoons cinnamon

1/8 cup white sugar.

Directions:

First, take the enough apple juice and orange liquor to cover the raisins and put it in a microwaveable bowl.  Heat on high for about 2 minutes or just until hot, but not boiling.  Add raisins and leave on counter soaking for about 15 minutes.   I usually use just apple juice unless I have orange liquor handy.  Then I go half and half.

While raisins soak,

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch glass baking dish.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and stir in 8 tablespoons sliced butter.
3. In a medium bowl beat sugar and cream cheese until smooth, then beat in eggs; stir into noodles and add sour cream, creamed cottage cheese, and salt.  Drain raisins and stir them in.  Transfer mixture to prepared dish.
4. In a small bowl combine melted butter, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, and corn flakes.  Sprinkle over noodle mixture.  Combine cinnamon and 1/8 cup of white sugar and sprinkle on top of corn flakes.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.    Tastes good warm or cold.  Store in refrigerator.