Check back for a weekly dose of Thanksgiving recipes all this month - it's a digital happy hour at the Cheap$kate Chateau!
Hey, if you can put bacon on cupcakes, why not Stuffing Cupcakes with Sausage and Cranberry Frosting? This is the good stuff(ing) -- just ask my skeptical wife, and she has patiently been the recipient of some of my more outlandish culinary creations, like Pita Pizzas topped with Clams and Artichoke Hearts.
This is a fun party appetizer. Too much stuffing for the big bird? Make a few cupcakes with the extra and bring a bowlful to the Christmas table.
Make your favorite chicken or turkey gravy for a dipping sauce (I found a jar of turkey gravy at The 99c Only Store), or, more formally, serve each cupcake in a pool of gravy.
You can use your favorite holiday stuffing recipe; I used 99-cent packaged cornbread stuffing mix. And you can add anything to stuffing: from sausage to chestnuts and dried fruit, or saute aromatics like onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, and any fresh herbs you have in your garden.
What's nice about stuffing as a cupcake is you get more crunchy crust than with typical stuffing from a turkey, and you still get a moist, soft center.Why have cranberry sauce on the side when you can slather it on the cupcake like jam? As for the gravy, it makes a great dipping sauce.
All my ingredients come cheap this time of year. Bags of stuffing, cranberry sauce, and breakfast sausage are on sale. Your kids may balk at a Stuffing Cupcake, but the adults will like it. Hey, pile on enough cranberry frosting, and the kids may come around. Pull this recipe out for Christmas, too!
Ingredients (about 6 cupcakes)
- 3 cups of stuffing from the package (about 6 oz.) - cornbread or your favorite.
- 1/4 cup of flour - white or wheat
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup of milk
- 4 breakfast sausage links - about 1/4 pound ground sausage - optional
- 1/4 bell pepper chopped
- 1/4 onion chopped
- 1/4 celery stalk chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried or fresh chopped herbs - parsley, sage, oregano, or your favorites
- 8 oz. of cranberry sauce, from the can, for frosting. Whole cranberry sauce works well.
Heat cranberry sauce in a pot for 5-10 minutes. Break it apart as it heats - it will become like soft jelly. Remove from heat, allow to cool, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Directions for Stuffing Cupcakes
Prepare 3 cups of stuffing according to package directions. Usually, add one cup of hot water to the stuffing in a large bowl. Mix until the stuffing is spongy and soft.

Grease a cupcake pan with butter or oil spray. Scoop in enough dressing to fill each one.
While cupcakes cook, make your favorite chicken or turkey gravy (it's okay to use packaged or from a can or jar). I have a few gravy recipes, including a delicious mushroom gravy recipe. Just click here.
Top cupcakes with cranberry frosting, and warm gravy underneath (or, gravy on the side as a dipping sauce.)













