Caramelized Autumn Fruit Stuffing

Caramelized Autumn Fruit Stuffing Cups.

September 13, 2010

Too early for stuffing?

Never.

At least not in this house.

I must admit this was Mr. How Sweet’s idea. See, he loves stuffing. One of his favorite meals is a big “garbage” casserole: a large dish filled with chicken, cream of chicken soup and Stove Top stuffing. The whole wheat Stove Top stuffing, because you know that negates the cream of chicken soup calories. Obviously.

Okay, so it’s not just caramelized fruit.

These is some caramelized butternut squash in there to.

And boy – was it delicious.

Not sugar needed for caramelization here. I just chopped apples, pears and squash into uniformly sized cubes and doused them with sea salt and cinnamon.

Then I let them do their business.

Are you ready for this?

Because this caramelized mixture just may be my new favorite snack.

It’s actually pretty.

And the words “harvest” and “autumn” come to mind just when I peek at it.

My mind has been spinning with the incredible uses for this caramelized fruit and squash – oatmeal, pancakes, quesadillas, omelets, pizza…

But this time, we decided to use some Nature’s Pride whole wheat bread and make individually portioned stuffing cups.

Mr. How Sweet claims that the apple replaces the onion and the pear replaces the celery in traditional stuffing. And the butternut squash? Well, that’s just an added bonus.

A scrumptious added bonus I may add.

And I can’t forget to mention the drizzle of butter and brown sugar on top.

Totally necessary.

Caramelized Autumn Fruit Stuffing Cups

serves 3

1/2 butternut squash, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 apple, chopped (I used honeycrisp)

1 pear, chopped (I used red bartlett)

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

3 slices Nature’s Pride whole wheat bread

1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat a skillet on medium heat and add 1 tablespoon butter. Once hot, add squash, apples and pears, tossing with cinnamon and salt. Stir a few times to coat and combine. Let caramelize, stirring occasionally, for about 15-20 minutes.

While the fruit is caramelizing, toast bread (if it is not stale already). Cut into cubes that are the same size as the fruit.

Once fruit is caramelized, add to a bowl with bread. Mix to combine.

Spoon stuffing evenly into 3 ramekins. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, and stir in brown sugar. Spoon butter over stuffing in each ramekin. Bake for 15-20 minutes.