Pineapple Stuffing #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

Libby Klein I learned to make this wonderful pineapple stuffing when I was about twelve years old. We were visiting friends for Easter dinner, and this was served as a side dish to ham. It's both savory and sweet, and has a kind of uniqueness to it in that I've never known another person to make it. Other than the several who've gotten the recipe from me over the years. 

In fact, that recipe sharing has gotten so out of control that I showed up at a church function with this dish one afternoon and someone said, "Oh good. You've made Connie's Pineapple Stuffing." Um... Excuse me? I'll have you know that Connie calls me every year to remind her of the amounts for each ingredient in "Connie's Pineapple Stuffing." 

My husband loves this so much that he requests it for Thanksgiving with the turkey. I personally find that a little weird, but hey - to each his own. Now that my inlaws live with me, I've also noticed that they hide dishes of it to make sure they get leftovers before someone else (AKA - their son) gets it before they do. Because there is only one ingredient in this dish that contains gluten, making this gluten-free is incredibly easy. What I want to know from you is - have you ever heard of Pineapple Stuffing? And have you ever made it? Let me know in the comments.

"Connie's" Pineapple Stuffing

Serves 8 - 12

INGREDIENTS

 

1 loaf of white bread preferably stale - I use gluten-free 

3/4 cup sugar

1 stick butter, softened

3 eggs

1 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained but reserve the juice

DIRECTIONS

I like to open my bag of bread the night or two before to let it dry out a bit. 

Preheat oven to 350° F 

Cut the crusts off your bread and cut the slices into cubes. Place the cubes in a mixing bowl much larger than what you need if you can.

In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs until combined. Then add the crushed pineapple.

Fold the mixture into the bread cubes.

Bake in a buttered casserole dish for 45-60 minutes, or until the top is starting to brown and the stuffing is bubbly. I used a deep casserole dish. In fact, I've used the same casserole dish for pineapple stuffing for almost forty years. It was a wedding present. If you use a more shallow casserole dish, your baking time will be closer to the 45 minutes. If you use a deep dish like I do, it's closer to the 60. You can see the casserole dish with the lid on it in the last Around the Kitchen Table post.

That pineapple juice you reserved is to be used if your casserole is too dry. I have never used it in over forty years. This dish really shines when paired with ham. At this point you may be thinking - Libby, this is just bread pudding. Remember, I learned this when I was twelve. I didn't make bread pudding for the first time until I was in my twenties and I thought - whoa! This is just pineapple stuffing!

B&B owner and gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister, along with her saucy Aunt Ginny, is on the case at the annual Cold Spring Village antique show in Libby Klein’s seventh deliciously witty, paleo-themed Poppy McAllister Mystery.
 

When vintage items go up for auction, gluten-free baker and B&B owner Poppy McAllister discovers some people will pay the ultimate price...
 
It’s peak summer season at the Butterfly House Bed and Breakfast in Cape May, with tourists fluttering in and out and wreaking enough havoc to rival a Jersey Shore hurricane. Also back in town is Courtney Whipple and his family of antique dealers for the annual Cold Spring Village antique show. Courtney’s son Auggie has a unique piece he believes will fetch them a fortune if he can get it authenticated in time—a piece rival dealer Grover Prickle insists was stolen from his store.
 
Poppy and her Aunt Ginny attend the auction, hoping to bid on an armoire for the B&B, and discover a veritable armory for sale—everything from ancient blades and nineteenth century guns to such potential killing devices as knitting needles and a blacksmith hammer. Strangely, they don’t see either Auggie or Grover—or the mysterious item they both claim to own. Then during the auction, a body falls out of the very armoire Poppy was hoping to acquire, stabbed through the heart. Now, surrounded by competitive dealers and makeshift weapons, she must find out who turned the auction house into a slaughterhouse…
 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/