Caramelized Autumn Fruit Stuffing Cups.
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.
I’m officially ready for Fall. And all the things that come with it… like pumpkin pie, and pecan pie, and apple pie, and caramel apples and…
And apparently a larger pants size, too.
90 Comments on “Caramelized Autumn Fruit Stuffing Cups.”
These are too cute!! I love stuffing muffins at Thanksgiving…just makes it more fun to eat.
Love this!! Especially the individual cups :)
Yum! I was actually JUST thinking about making a stuffing with butternut squash in it last night. We must think alike :)
Yum, yum! Love that these are low in added sugar, too!
What a perfect fall recipe! Yum :)
Those look delicious! I’m going to have to try that. :)
You are awesome and so is this recipe!
Yummm…I can tell you are so ready for the fall weather
YEAH! Fall flavors are finally here! I love everything about this stuffing…I can’t wait to make it!
Those look delicious! What an awesome idea to put them in ramekins ! :)
xo
Kris
Oh my gosh. This is probably one of my favorite things you’ve ever made. Looks SO good, SO easy…..and the perfect “sweet” dinner to have when I’m craving sugar but want some sustenance. Thank you for sharing!!
Oohhhh! What a creative and delicious fall treat. :)
Jessica, I come to your blog every day for your witty writing and your lovely photos, because once again, you have posted something that I would only eat if a lot of money or a loved one’s life were involved.
You know what? I have three ramekins. Only three. And you know what? We have three people at home. Just three. And you know what?
I may or may not love you.
Yum! This stuffing looks so good…and no, it’s definitely not too early for it :) Dried cranberries might be a tasty addition as well. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Stuffing is one of those things that I only eat on holidays, and I always wonder, WHY?!? It’s SO good!! I should definitely eat it more often!
I am totally bookmarking this recipe to make soon. Looks SO good!
I cannot wait to try this! You are amazing.
Yum! It sounds like your husband enjoyed this. I would love to make it, but afraid my boyfriend would hate it and I would be stuck eating it by myself. I guess nothing wrong with that :))
Gorgeous pictures :D
What a fabulous idea! We are SO READY FOR FALL!!
BOOKMARKED! Love this! :)
This looks amazing! Autumn definitely comes to mind when I look at it too. Bookmarking it for later! :-)
WOW- that looks fantastic. Love that you get fruit, veg & whole grains all in one cup. Oh stovetop- its been so long- I used to LOVE that stuff/still love that stuff ;)
My dad always makes stuffing in muffin or popover tins because you get to maximize the crispy part. This stuffing looks SERIOUSLY good.
I am ALL over this fruit stuffing. What a fantastic recipe!
i have made something similar only instead of butternut squash i used potatoes. yours looks way better :D
I am so obsessed with fall flavors and this morning felt so autumn-like in NYC. Can’t wait to try this!
iLOVEEE the root veggies in the fall!! :) this is perfect and so comforting!
oh my gosh this is even better than i could ever have imagined! drooling!
Oooh, I love the variety of fall goodness! That sounds yummy.
Jenn
this looks SO good! I’ve never had a stuffing that has a sweet aspect to it… and now I feel cheated :)
I am so ready for fall and all the yum that comes with it.
That certainly does ring autumn! The tasty combination of flavors seem like they would go excellently together! :)
I had a lunch that looked just like this the other day and it was faaabulous!
You had me at butternut squash. This looks so SO good!
I love stuffing, especially when its on the sweet side. Our family always has pineapple stuffing at Christmas – its delicious with ham – this might be a great option at Thanksgiving dinner. Plus this is MUCH healthier than the pineapple version which is more like a dessert. Can’t wait to give it a try.
I am loving the fall weather (read: still plesant during the day -76*-, but down right chilly at night! – ok, not that cold… but ‘cold’ for SoCal hehe)! I made a cream of potato soup Friday night for my husband who’s recovering from getting his wisdom teeth out (ouch! – he woke up with a black eye this morning ?!) and he dubbed it baked potato soup bc that’s what it tasted like to him. It was SO creamy and rich (with out using cream! … just milk). Was going to make it potato cheese soup, but it didn’t need it. (But I do wish I had had a few peices of bacon!!) It screamed ‘FALL’ to me. But not as much as this recipe does. I love how you used fruit and veggies in this recipe. YUM! We looooove stuffing!! Ok, my husband does… but I love making his fav foods ;)
That sounds delicious!
Those are so beautiful! You’re right–there is a ton of stuff you could do with that caramelized fruit mixture. I bet it would be good in oatmeal. Or muffins. Or a pie. Fun!
I never really eat stuffing, even though I do like it. This sounds really good though, and I think it’d go great with pork too.
This is such a creative idea! I love the idea of mini, individual servings of stuffing. Thanks for sharing this, Jessica! I’m so glad I found your blog!
I am definitely making this! I think it’d be a great potluck share!
Mmm I love stuffing :)
Umm, anything caramelized is fine by me. You’ve got me ready for Fall
Caramelized fruit….yummmmm. LOVE the photo of the fruit in the pot!! So is this dinner or dessert? I’m going to say dinner :)
I’m going with dinner too. It is very rare that I consider fruit “dessert.”
Holy delicious! Those are too cute and look absolutely amazing. I love Fall-inspired treats! Can’t wait to try them out when I head home this weekend :)
These look awesome, carmelized fruit or anything really DOES speak, no it screams, FALL autumn and this whole time of year. Great work hon and you totally deserve to WIN!!!!!!!!! :)
All things Autumn. Stuffed into a cup. Genius.
This recipe just got me so incredibly jazzed for fall. Bring on the apples, squash, pumpkin, spices, hot cocoa, everything, I’m ready!
Stuffing is by far my favorite part of holiday meals – I could skip everything else and just have that and dessert. I can’t wait to try this out!
Oh my God, this sounds amazing. My mom made stuffing last night and I almost died, I ate so much of it.
Tell me, how do you like the whole wheat stove top? I just bought some.
Mr. How Sweet loves it – it’s only okay to me… nothing like homemade.