Roasted Cornish Game Hens with Cornbread Stuffing

Stuffing Ingredients
•    4 cups cornbread store bought or homemade
•    3 tbsp butter
•    1 cup diced onion
•    1/2 cup chopped celery
•    2 granny smith apples peeled and diced
•    1 tbsp garlic powder
•    1 tsp salt
•    1 tsp pepper
•    2 teaspoons dried sage
•    1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
•    1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
•    3/4 cup chopped toasted almonds
•    1/4 cup chicken stock
•    1/8 cup apple juice

Game Hen Ingredients
•    4, 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-pound Cornish game hens, rinsed, patted dry
•    1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
•    2 tsp garlic powder
•    2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
•    1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

For stuffing

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery; sauté about 5 minutes. Add apples; sauté until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Mix in sage, garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper; transfer to large bowl.
2. Mix cornbread into vegetables. 
3. Add the chicken stock, apple juice, and toasted almonds. Mix well to blend.

Game hens

1. Mix the salt, pepper, sage, and garlic powder together.
2. Sprinkle cavity of each hen lightly with the salt and pepper mixture. 
3. Stuff each with the cornbread dressing (place any leftover stuffing into buttered muffin cups or a square cake pan and cover with foil). 
4. Tuck wing tips under; tie legs together to hold shape. Sprinkle the rest of the salt mixture over both hens and rub in well.
5. Preheat oven to 400°F.  
6. Place hens onto a roasting rack in a shallow pan thigh side up. Roast for 45 minutes until skin is crisping. Turn over and roast an additional 45 minutes or until the skin is crispy and the birds have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees. 
7. Bake additional the stuffing, covered, for 30 minutes in the 400 oven.