Recipe: Cornish Game Hens with Cherry Sauce (using dried cherries)

Cornish Game Hens with Cherry Sauce
rec.food.recipes/JANIC412 (1999)

This is one of our favorite game hen recipes:

2 Cornish game hens
Stove top stuffing to fill 2 hens (or use your favorite stuffing recipe)
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP. butter
3/4 cup (10 oz. jar) currant jelly
1/4 cup pitted, dried red cherries coarsely chopped (I leave them whole)
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. allspice

In a med. bowl, combine stuffing mix with the seasoning packet, water and 1/4 cup butter. (If using your own stuffing mixture omit these steps) stuff the hens and place in a baking dish. In a small saucepan, combine the jelly, cherries and 2 TBSP. butter, lemon juice, salt and allspice. Cook over low heat stirring until the jelly melts. Reserve 2/3 cup of the sauce and set aside.

Brush remaining sauce over hens and bake 350: for about 1 1/2 hours or until the juices run clear. Remove for baking dish and arrange on a warm platter-spoon the remaining sauce over the hens. The sauce can be strained and the cherries discarded if you like. I serve this with mashed potatoes (using the sauce over the potatoes) and a green vegetable.