Holiday Stuffing

Submitted By: Doris Smithson Temple

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dried red tart cherries
• 1 cup Madeira, sherry, or port wine
• 14 slices day-old homemade-style white bread, toasted and torn into small pieces
• (about 8 cups)
• 11/2 cups toasted pecans
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots

1/2 cup butter

3 crisp apples, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 teaspoons dried tarragon

1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 teaspoons dried thyme

10-12 dried sage leaves (or 1 teaspoon ground sage)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Place dried cherries in a bowl with the wine. Soak for several hours or overnight.

Combine bread pieces and pecans in a bowl. Drain cherries, reserving wine; add cherries to bread and pecans.
In a saucepan, sauté onions, celery, and shallots in butter until softened. Add to bread mixture. Add remaining ingredients and reserved wine. Toss well. Makes enough to stuff into an 18-pound turkey or it can be baked separately in a casserole dish at 350° for 45 minutes.