Pumpkin Gingerbread Stuffing

Winnie Abramson, ND

By Winnie Abramson, ND

Updated

This article may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

This vegetarian stuffing was inspired by Nigella Lawson’s recipe for Gingerbread Stuffing. It appears in her book Feast. I liked the idea of a sweet-ish stuffing, so I came up with my own version. I used my own pumpkin gingerbread muffin recipe as the base (make a double batch if you’d like to have some of the muffins to snack on, too)- it’s easy to make a few days ahead, crumble up, and allow to stale a bit before you proceed with the stuffing. If you don’t want to make your own gingerbread, use a good quality store-bought loaf.

First, make and then dry out the muffins:

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 6 tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon molasses
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
* 1/2 cup applesauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix together flour through ginger in a large bowl.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter and the brown sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Add the pumpkin and the applesauce and mix well again. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until blended.

Spoon into muffin tins that have been greased with butter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.

To use the muffins in the stuffing, tear them into pieces and keep on a cookie sheet, uncovered, for a day or two. This should dry them out sufficiently; alternatively, you could put them in a 350°F oven to for 10 minutes or so before proceeding with the stuffing.

pumpkinmuffinsintray

Then, make the stuffing:

Ingredients for the stuffing:

* 4 tablespoons butter
* 2 onions, peeled and chopped
* 1 apple, peeled and chopped
* 4 cups peeled and cubed cooking pumpkin or sweet potato
* 2 stalks celery, chopped
* 1 bulb fennel, trimmed and chopped
* 1 cup apple cider
* 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
* 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
* 6 cups cubed (“stale” or toasted) pumpkin gingerbread muffins
* 2 eggs, beaten lightly with a fork
* 1 cup vegetable stock

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and apple and cook for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant and soft.

Add the cubed pumpkin, celery, and fennel and cook for 3 more minutes.

veggiesinpan

Add the apple cider and the ginger and cook for 7-10 minutes, until most of the cider has cooked off, and the vegetables are cooked through. Remove from the heat and mix in the salt.

Mix the wet ingredients with the cubed pumpkin gingerbread in a large bowl. Add the eggs and the stock and mix well.

Bake uncovered in a 350 °F oven for 50-60 minutes until the bread has crisped on the top. Serve warm.

pumpkinstuffing2

As you may or may not have noticed, I’ve been posting lots of Thanksgiving-esque dishes lately. I’ll post a Thanksgiving recipe roundup next week!

Leave a Comment


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.