Cornbread Dressing With Cranberries

A good dressing can go a long way; this comfort food recipe for a delicious cornbread dressing combined with dried cranberries is easy enough to make anytime, and flexible enough to fit with a variety of dishes, including holiday meals and family get-togethers. Served hot with gravy and other traditional family favorites, this recipe is a good one to know. Soon the house will be filled with the mouth-watering aroma from a fresh-baked cornbread dressing of your own.

Things You Will Need:

Conventional oven
Large flat glass pan
7 cups crumbled cornbread (prepared in advance)
2 cups crumbled bread (wheat or white)
4 cups dried cranberries
4 ounces butter
3 cups onion, coarsely chopped
3 cups diced celery
4 cups vegetable broth (low sodium if desired)
1 teaspoon of the following: (spices can be changed if desired)

• pepper
• dried sage
• thyme
• marjoram
• rosemary

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Step One: Measuring

Crumble cornbread and bread of choice in a large bowl. Measure out fresh and dried spices along with the broth, dried cranberries and vegetables. This baked cornbread dish will come out perfect if the right amounts of ingredients are added.

Step Two: Prepping the dressing mixture

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly brown onions and celery in a pan while the oven heats; turn off the heat on the vegetables once a slight brown color can be seen. Combine dry ingredients, including spices, cornbread and other bread of choice, plus the dried cranberries in a large bowl. Add in the pan prepared vegetables plus broth and the beaten eggs. Mix well so that all ingredients are moistened and uniform.

Step Three: Spread into a large flat pan

Scoop the prepared mixture by the hand or large spoonful, and spread it on the bottom of a large glass pan. Flatten the mixture to ensure uniform baking and even heat throughout its entirety. Place the flat glass pan into the oven, and bake for twenty to thirty minutes, or until browned around the edges. A distinct flavor and aroma will fill the air once the dressing has reached its proper serving point.

Step Four: Time to eat

Remove the dressing mixture with a spatula or large spoon for serving; leaving the dressing in the baking pan is another great serving idea, just make sure the glass container has cooled enough for safe handling. Placing the glass dish or pan directly onto hot pans allows the cornbread dressing with cranberries to cool; serving the delicious recipe at its peak temperature could result in burnt taste buds and hurt mouths.

Step Five: Clean the crock pot quickly.

Adding hot water and soap to the glass pan immediately ensures that fewer bread crumbs and sticky melted morsels will stay on the pan. The quicker a dish soap and water gets added to the messy pan that cooked the cornbread recipe, the less scrubbing one will have to take part in. The soap and water along with other cleaning agents will work the baked on pieces off of the pan; the beaten eggs may cause an extra sticky mess, so adding less egg mixture could reduce the cleaning process, this will also take away from the crunchy characteristic of the dressing, so be aware.

Tips

• Add spices of your choice to the recipe for a taste of your own
• Substitute cranberries with other dried fruits for unique dressing recipes
• Buttering the baking dish can reduce items getting stuck, making cleaning easier

Warnings

• Turn off the oven after it is no longer in use to prevent fires and smoke alarm signals