A couple of hours before assembling the stuffing, cut up the bread into cubes and let it sit out on the counter for 2 hours minimum so that it dries out a little.

Cut the bacon into bite sized pieces, add them to a skillet, and cook the bacon until it is crispy. Remove the bacon bits and let drain on some paper towels.

Drain most of the bacon fat, reserving 2 tablespoons. Just eyeball this measurement.

Dice the onion and add it to the skillet with the bacon fat and sauté this low and slow until the onions start to caramelize.

Dice the celery very finely along with the leaves, add to the onions and sauté until the celery is getting soft.

Sprinkle the celery seed, mustard seed, brown sugar, black pepper, celery salt, and onion powder over the onions and celery and sauté for a minute or two. Add the grainy mustard and also sauté for a minute or two.

Add the heaping tablespoon of the Better Than Bouillon Ham Base and sauté into the mixture. Then add the water. Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer while stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool down some.

In a large bowl you will combine the bread cubes and the broth mixture you made with the onions and celery. Add this a little at a time and stir until the bread is soaked. The bread will be very soggy, but this is OK. There should not be excess liquid at this point so if for some reason there is, do not add all the broth, though the bread will be very wet. Do make sure to add all the celery and onion bits even if for some reason you have to stop adding the liquid. Do this by straining it. Again, this will be very wet but you should not see pooling liquid.

Add the bacon pieces and stir well to combine. Let this sit and cool off a little.

In a 9 x 13 casserole dish you will add slices of the butter evenly on the bottom of the pan. Cut the butter pats to about ¼ of an inch *pictured in post.

Whisk the two eggs with the heavy cream and add to the stuffing. Mix well to combine. Add half the sliced chives. Mix again to combine.

Add this to the casserole dish, spread evenly. Slice the remaining butter and top the stuffing.

This can be covered and kept in fridge up to 24 hours before baking. If you do this, when ready to bake let this sit out to almost room temp before baking.

Cover the stuffing with a single piece of foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 15 minutes so the top gets crispy. You will know this is done when the center is set and sort of spongy when you press on it.

Top with the remaining chives.