Sausage and Apple Stuffing Bites

Sausage and Apple Stuffing Bites

At some point over the last few years, I saw this recipe in a beautiful Food & Wine magazine edition, ripped it out and tucked it away for later. As we are in juicy-apple-and-freshly-processed-local-pork season, when I came across the page recently, I knew that “later” was now. My family has gobbled this delicious and fun dish twice in recent weeks. I tweaked the recipe to use a pound of mild ground sausage, making these really more meatball than stuffing. They were wonderful served with potatoes and pears (both still appearing at our farmers markets). I can imagine these bites as a much-talked about addition to a holiday potluck or a nice side dish balance to a Thanksgiving meal. Wherever you serve them, they’ll be a hit. Promise.

Makes 36-40 mini muffins

Ingredients

  • 3 cups good white bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • 2/3 cup finely chopped onion
  • 2/3 cup finely chopped celery
  • 1 pound mildly spiced ground sausage (local if you can get it)
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 medium apple (local if you can get it)
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 2 Tbsp. chicken broth

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease three to four 12-cup mini muffin pans.
  2. On a baking sheet, toss the bread with oil. Bake for about 10 minutes, until toasted.
  3. In a large skillet, melt butter. Add onion, garlic and celery. Cook over medium-high heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Add sausage. Stir and break up meat until no pink remains. Drain off any excess fat.
  4. Stir together meat mixture with apples, eggs and broth. Fold in bread. Let stand for 5 minutes.
  5. Pack the mixture into muffin cups and bake 20-25 minutes until browned. Be sure to place cookie sheets under the muffin trays to keep grease from dripping into oven.
  6. Remove from oven and cool for five minutes. Loosen muffins with a sharp paring knife and lift them out. Serve warm.
  7. Can be made ahead, stored in the refrigerator and reheated in the oven.