Cherry Almond Kugel

About a year ago, my book club I lead at the library read Golden Country by Jennifer Gilmore. In the book, some of the characters meet in Upstate New York for brunch consisting of bagels, lox, and kugel topped with cornflakes. The book, albeit fictional, said that surely it was the best kugel in America. One of my book club ladies wanted to make kugel for the group, but I couldn't let her for food handler laws, blah blah blah. I was upset. I wanted some kugel, and I really wished I could have let her bring it. However, she did bring her recipe in and gave me a copy.

A couple weeks ago, Brian and I were invited to a most awesome bagels and lox brunch. I immediately thought of Golden Country, and so I finally had a reason to try the kugel. I stupidly left my book club lady's recipe at work, so I adapted this Easiest Noodle Kugel recipe.

Cherry Almond Kugel
8 ounces wide egg noodles (this is more than 1 cup, you'll need a scale)
1 cup dried cherries
5 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter,
melted, cooled
2/3 cup sugar
4 cups whole milk
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups cornflakes, coarsely crushed
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
dash cinnamon and nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread uncooked noodles over bottom of prepared dish and sprinkle with cherries. Whisk eggs, sour cream, butter, sugar, almond extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg in large bowl until smooth. Whisk in milk and pour mixture over noodles. Let kugel stand 5 minutes.
Mix cornflakes, almond meal, brown sugar, dash cinnamon and nutmeg in bowl;
sprinkle evenly over kugel.
Bake kugel until set in center, about 1 hour.

Here's the topping:

Shot of the side of the pan (it was blurry):

It makes A LOT!!!