Cornbread Stuffing Muffins With Ham And Sage Food

CORNBREAD STUFFING WITH HAM

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F; butter a shallow 3-quart baking dish. Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the mustard greens and cook, stirring, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Stir in the ham, thyme and sage. Add the broth, 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper; bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat.
• Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the bread cubes and ham-broth mixture and stir until combined. Transfer the stuffing to the prepared baking dish. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into small cubes and scatter evenly over the stuffing. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until golden, 20 to 30 more minutes.

CORNBREAD & SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Butter and flour a 9x13-inch baking pan or spray with a nonstick cooking spray with flour, such as Baker's Joy.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the milk and whisk until evenly combined. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the milk mixture and the melted butter to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan and smooth the top. Bake until lightly golden around the edges and set, about 30 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack until cool enough to handle, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 250°F and set the oven rack in the middle position. Cut the cornbread into 1-inch squares. Place the cut cornbread on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 1 hour. Cool the cornbread on the baking sheet, about 15 minutes.
• Place the sausage in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring and breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to the largest bowl you have (it needs to fit all the cornbread), leaving the fat in the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions, celery, and 3 tablespoons of the butter to the pan. Cook until the vegetables are softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Off the heat, mix in the herbs. Add the vegetable mixture to the bowl with the sausage and mix to combine.
• In another bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the milk, broth, and salt.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Add the dried cornbread cubes to the sausage and vegetable mixture. Pour the egg mixture over top. Fold the mixture a few times with a large rubber spatula, being careful not to break up the cornbread too much. Let the mixture sit, folding carefully a few times, until the cornbread is saturated, about 10 minutes.
• Transfer the soaked cornbread mixture to the prepared pan, making sure the sausage and vegetables are evenly distributed. Try to arrange some of the larger pieces of cornbread on top; it looks prettier. Dot the top of the stuffing with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Bake until golden brown and crisp, about 35 minutes. Serve warm.
• Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cornbread can be prepared up to two days ahead of time. Cut it into cubes and let it dry out on the countertop overnight instead of toasting it in the oven. If you'd like the assemble the stuffing in advance, prepare it up until the point of baking, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate up to a day ahead of time. When ready to serve, bake as directed, allowing a few extra minutes in the oven. It can also be frozen after baking, tightly covered, for up to 3 months. When you're ready to serve it, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Reheat it, covered with foil, in a 325°F oven until hot.

CORNBREAD STUFFING MUFFINS WITH HAM AND SAGE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter twelve 1/3-cup nonstick muffin cups. Divide cornbread cubes and white bread cubes between 2 rimmed baking sheets. Dry slightly in oven, about 5 minutes. Cool. Transfer to large bowl.
• Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and celery; cook until soft, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add ham; stir 1 minute. Add all herbs, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper; stir to blend. Add vegetable mixture to bread; toss. Add eggs and broth; toss. Let stand 5 minutes; toss again. Spoon about 1/2 cup stuffing mixture into each muffin cup. Press to compact. Mound about 1/2 cup remaining stuffing mixture over stuffing in each muffin cup, pressing to hold shape.
• Bake muffins until golden, about 22 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Using small plastic knife, loosen muffins. Transfer to rack; cool.
• DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, cover, and chill. Rewarm uncovered in microwave in 30-second intervals, or covered loosely with foil in 350°F oven, about 15 minutes.

CORNBREAD DRESSING

Steps:

• Heat up a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Chop carrot, onion, and celery.
• Add olive oil to hot pan and swirl to coat. Add Italian Sausage and break it apart while it browns. Sausage is cooked when no pink is left.
• Toss the veggies into the skillet with cooked Italian sausage and saute until tender, about 7 minutes. {If there isn't enough grease in the pan from the sausage, pour in a little oil.} Season with salt and pepper.
• Remove pan from heat and add to large mixing bowl. Crumble cornbread over top.
• Add in poultry seasoning, salt, pepper and half the chicken broth.
• Crack eggs into small bowl. Whisk together and add to the cornbread mixture. Stir well.
• Add in remaining chicken broth (or as much as you think it needs to get it moist). Spoon dressing into buttered baking or casserole dish.
• Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

CORNBREAD STUFFING MUFFINS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups.
• Combine cornbread stuffing mix, figs, corn, butter, prosciutto, eggs, and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Spoon mixture evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
• Bake in the preheated oven until firm and golden brown on top, about 30 minutes.

CRANBERRY-STUFFED CORNBREAD STUFFING MUFFINS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray cooking spray into muffin pan.
• In large skillet, heat olive oil to high heat. Slit sausage casing, and remove ground sausage. Break up sausage in pan, then turn to medium heat just before fully cooked. Add the three containers of onions, garlic, shallots, and celery and cook all until sausage is done and onions are translucent. Add seasoning packet that came with Stuffing mix (or not, if you bought the kind that's pre-seasoned), and add one of the chicken broth boxes. Heat all ingredients until bubbly, then add thyme and sage just before removing from heat.
• Pour all stuffing mix all into one very large bowl. Then pour all contents of pan plus the additional box of broth over stuffing mix. Stir all together with two large serving spoons. Set aside.
• Rinse and drain cranberries, then heat in orange juice until juice is boiling and all cranberries pop open and become mushy. Watch that the juice doesn't boil over, so turn it down to low and keep it at a simmer. In a food processor, pulse orange zest and pecans together to get a medium ground. Strain cooked cranberries from orange juice and mix them with the zest, pecans, and brown sugar.
• Just before baking, add the four eggs to the stuffing mix. Stir well, coating all stuffing.
• Spoon stuffing into muffin cups, halfway, and make a bit of a well for the cranberry filling. Just not all the way to the bottom. Spoon about 1 ½ tablespoon of cranberry filling into each muffin cup, then come back over and fill the muffins the rest of the way, covering the cranberry filling entirely. They won't rise, so they can be filled to the top. Keep the cranberry filling buried within the stuffing, since the filling is sugary and will caramelize when baked, and you don't want it to cause the muffin to stick into the pan.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 45-55 min, or until bubbly and golden brown/crusty on top. Let cool in muffin pans and run a butter knife around the inside of each cup to loosen each muffin. That way if any of the cranberry filling has leaked out and gotten sticky, it won't cause the muffin to break apart. They will be dense so it's best to use a plate upside down on top of the muffin pan, then flip over to remove the muffins. Makes 30 large muffins.