Double Bread Stuffing with Brown Butter, Bacon and Sage

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a 9×13 baking dish, add cubed bread. Place in the oven and bake for 8 minutes, then flip and bake for 8 minutes more. Remove from oven and set aside. While bread is baking, heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk continuously until brown bits form on the bottom (about 5 minutes), then immediately remove from heat and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crispy and fat is rendered. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel, leaving drippings in the pan. Add onion, shallots, sage and leeks, cooking for 5-6 minutes and stirring occasionally until soft. Turn heat down to low, add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Turn off heat and stir in parsley, thyme, parmesan, 1/2 cup stock and cream.

Drizzle brown butter over bread cubes, tossing to coat. Drizzle 1 1/2 cups of stock over top, flipping to coat and stirring to moisten, adding more if needed. Ladle in spoonfuls of the onions mixture, mixing to coat, then fold in bacon. Season with salt and pepper. At this point some of the cornbread will begin to crumble, but that is a good thing!

Bake at 375ºF for 40-45 minutes, or until crispy and golden brown. This serves about 4-6 generously with leftovers.

Note: If you want to stuff the bird with this, skip the stock drizzle over the bread (keep the butter), fold everything together and then stuff.