Thanksgivukkah

This year Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah fell on the same day. Because this is such a rare event (it won't happen again for another 70,000 years!) and my family was hosting Thanksgiving this year, we wanted to incorporate both holidays in the food that we were going to serve. I saw this Buzzfeed article that had various recipes that combine aspects of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving foods. We decided to try to make one of their recipes for challah-apple stuffing. Here is the recipe that serves 10-12 people:

Ingredients:
2 1-lb loaves of challah
2 sticks of unsalted butter
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced onion
2 cups peeled and diced Granny Smith apples
8 sprigs thyme, leaves picked and finely chopped
3 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
6 sprigs marjoram, leaves picked and finely chopped
3 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
3 teaspoons kosher salt and ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cut challah into 1-inch cubes and let cubes sit out in a bowl or on a baking tray, uncovered for at least 6 hours to make them stale. You could also dry bread in the oven at 250 degrees by laying the cubes in a single layer on baking sheets and baking for about 30 minutes or until bread is dry but not toasted

2.  In a large pan, melt butter over medium-low heat and then add the onions and celery. Add 3 teaspoons of salt and pepper to taste and cook for about 8 minutes or until the onions are soft.

3. Add the apples and herbs and cook for about 5 minutes or until the apples are soft

4. In a large bowl, combine the challah cubes, cooked apples and vegetables, and broth. Mix until the bread is saturated with liquid and everything is evenly mixed

5. Press the stuffing into a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Remove the foil and raise the oven to 450 degrees and cook uncovered for another 10-15 minutes or until the top starts to brown.