Crispy Cheddar Chicken

I spend a large portion of my at-home time in the kitchen, partially out of necessity preparing deliciously wholesome meals for my three kiddos and my hubster (Ha!) but mostly because I enjoy cooking.  Maybe it's the creative corner of my brain, but I've always loved cooking.  So, for my inagural post, I decided that my Pinterest Interest would be from my Test Kitchen board.

It's a difficult task pleasing a dinner table of five, but some sort of chicken usually does the trick.  And to put cheese in the mix only makes my odds better - hence, Crispy Cheddar Chicken!

I repinned (stole) this idea from my friend and fellow cuisine cooking officiando, V.T., also a former co-worker that I miss greatly!  The photo alone was enough to entice.  The recipe originally comes from another blog called Jamie Cooks It Up.  Check her out! 

I varied her recipe very little - I usually try to stick as closely as possible to the original on my first try with a new dish.  Her instructions called for cutting up boneless, skinless chicken breast, but I prefer the lazy route - chicken tenders!

Next, it was time to get my dredging ingredients together.  I prepared my milk dish, using 2% because that's what I keep in our frig, grated some of my cheese, and crumbled some crackers in just a few quick pulses of the processor.  


Just a hint, I didn't grate the entire recommended amount of cheese because I wasn't sure if I would need it all and it was going to get messy with the milk so leftover cheese couldn't be reused.  I figured I could grate more as necessary.  I was glad I went that route because I didn't need the entire 3 cups for my portion of chicken tenders. Now came the tricky part - getting that doggone grated cheese to stick to my chicken tenders!  

The milk just wasn't making it happen so I decided to veer from the recipe a tad and use beaten egg, with a little milk mixed in, to try and give me sticky chicken.

It helped slightly, but getting the cheese to stick was still a challenge.  After much smushing, yes that is chef terminology, and packing on of the cracker crumbs, I finally got it sufficiently coated and in my lightly sprayed glass baking dish.



I covered it with the necessary foil to keep it from getting burned early in the cooking time and popped it into the oven on 350.

About 10 minutes into the baking process, I realized that I had forgotten to sprinkle on the parsley flakes so out came the chicken, up went the foil, and on went the flakes.  I really don't think the flakes did anything other than give it a little variation in color though.  Next time, I think I'll try it with Italian seasoning.



After baking for about 30 minutes, I removed the foil and baked for another 10 or so until it got a little more golden brown.  In those last 10 minutes I worked on the sauce.  Honestly, I didn't have high expectations for the sauce.  I mean how good could a three ingredient sauce be.  
But, the hubster is all about sauces so I wasn't going to ignore it.  I took my can of cream of chix, a few scoops of sour cream (maybe a little more than the recipe called for) and my very generous 2 tablespoons of butter and heated them all together in a small saucepan.


The chicken was toasty brown and smelling delish by the time the sauce was ready.  Out of the oven it came and onto the plates.  It looked pretty good!  I even posed it for a pic, trying to simulate the original -

The food critics tasted and commented:

"Love this crispy cheese!"

"This sauce ranks right up there with ranch dressing!"

"These would even be good as chicken strip appetizers for a party."

The only mediocre critique came from my youngest-one-of-three and really, she doesn't count.  She likes almost nothing.  But she did eat it so it must have been good.

I served my Crispy Cheddar Chicken with garlic smashers and applesauce. Something green on the side would have been nice but I didn't have the makings in the frig for a salad and I didn't feel like eating peas!  

All in all, this Pinterest Interest is a keeper!