A Sweet New Year: Gluten-Free Apple Kugel

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted anything! We just bought and moved into our first home so it’s been an incredibly hectic few months. I promise I’ll post pictures of the new place when it’s less of a disaster zone 🙂

This is a little late for Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), but here is a delicious fall recipe and an all-time favorite sweet kugel recipe of mine: apple kugel.

Kugel is a traditional Ashkenazic Jewish dish that’s kind of in the realm of baked casseroles, crustless pies, or less sweet cakes. Kugel frequently made with noodles (lokshen kugel) but gluten-free noodles tend to absorb to much moisture and get soggy, so I stick with more of the cake-y variety. I’ve shared some kugels before.

Every year when fall rolls around I lament the cooler weather but celebrate the return of apple season. Peeling apples can be a pain but it’s totally worth it for this recipe (you could also leave the peel on, I just don’t prefer the texture in this case). I’ve made this kugel in two ways now, with slight variations. The first recipe uses chopped apples and cinnamon, while the second uses slices apples and Chinese five-spice (I suppose grated apples would work well too). Both were hits 🙂 You can use any apples you like, I prefer Braeburn, Golden Delicious, or Granny Smith for this recipe (or a combination!).

Gluten-Free Apple Kugel

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1/4 cup neutral oil (like grapeseed or vegetable) or substitute applesauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour*
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon OR 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups sliced or chopped apples (about 3 medium apples)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 baking dish.
2. Beat together eggs, oil or applesauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together baking powder, cinnamon or five-spice, salt, and gluten-free flour. Add to wet mixture and stir to combine.
4. Stir in apples until well coated in batter and spread evenly into baking dish (you can also place the apples in the baking pan first and then pour the batter over top. If you have the time, you can also arrange slices in a pattern, it makes a pretty upside-down apple kugel).
5. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes until the edges and crispy and golden and the top of the kugel is firm.

*If you are using an all-purpose gluten-free flour that does not have xantham gum already added, add 1/2 tsp to the dry ingredients; if you are using regular flour, use an equal amount of all-purpose, white whole wheat, or whole wheat flour.