Brown Butter Cornbread Stuffing

To make the cornbread:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and line a 9 x 9 square pan with parchment paper. Alternatively, use butter or baking spray to grease the pan.
2. Whisk the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a large bowl and set aside.
3. In another, smaller bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, honey and melted butter. Whisk vigorously until smooth.
4. Add the buttermilk mixture to the cornmeal mixture in the larger bowl, and use a spatula to fold everything together until evenly combined. There should be no pockets or streaks of dry ingredients.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared 9 x 9 pan and bake for 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into 1 inch cubes. Allow the cubed cornbread to sit out, uncovered until you use it. I just added it to a plastic 8 cup measuring cup and set it in a corner of my countertop.
6. Ideally, allow the cornbread to sit out overnight and dry a bit.

To make the stuffing:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Heat the 1 TB of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat until shimmering. Add the diced onion and celery to the hot oil and season with the 2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are tender crisp and slightly softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic paste and stir constantly for another minute. Remove from the heat and pour the cooked veggies into the same big bowl as the cornbread cubes.
3. Return the skillet to the heat and add the butter. Once the butter has completely melted, add the sage, thyme and parsley to the skillet.
4. Continue to cook, stirring constantly until the butter stops foaming and starts to brown. When the butter is a light to medium golden and smells fragrant, (nutty/herby) immediately remove the skillet from the heat.
5. Scrape all of the browned butter and herbs into the mixing bowl with the cornbread and veggies, and use a spatula to gently fold everything together until well combined.
6. Line a baking sheet with foil and spread the moistened stuffing mixture into an even layer. Be sure to get stuffing into the corners.
7. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes, or until the stuffing is deeply golden brown and crisp. Allow to cool slightly.
8. Add the stuffing to a large mixing bowl, and drizzle about 1/2 cup of turkey drippings on top. Toss the stuffing with the drippings until well combined, and return moistened stuffing to the foil lined sheet pan it baked on.
9. Return to the oven and re-crisp for 6-7 minutes, being careful not to burn it. If you don’t have turkey drippings or you’d prefer not to use them, you can skip this step and serve the stuffing as is.