Chicken Breasts Stuffed With Cranberry-Apple Dressing

When you're too busy to stuff a whole turkey, stuffing chicken breasts is a great second option. It's easy to do and takes little effort (but looks super fancy.) If you want a more low-key meal on Turkey Day, give these stuffed chicken breasts a try.

The first thing I did was start the stuffing. I used a mix of bread cubes that included both white bread and cornbread.

For crunchiness, I chopped and added some pecans.

And for tartness and flavor, I did the same with some cranberries. This is what they look like on the inside--kind of neat, don't you think?

Now, in a pan, saute some onions and celery with some butter.

While the onion and celery are sauteing, you can peel an apple. I had a lot of Honeycrisp apples around, so I used one of them. For more tartness, a Granny Smith can be used.

Core the apple and dice into pieces.

Add the apples to the bread cubes and then spice things up with some dried thyme.

Dried sage is good, too. Sage and apples are good friends.

And, as always, never forget to salt and pepper.

When the celery and onions are softened, you can add them to the bowl too. Be sure to get all the little buttery bits!

Then moisten the dressing with a box of chicken broth. You'll need the whole box.

Mix until all the bread is moist and the herbs are evenly incorporated.

Now you can move on to the chicken. Lay a chicken breast flat on your cutting board, and, using a sharp knife, carefully cut a pocket into the breast.

Stuff the pocket with the dressing. Don't use too much, or it will just spill out and make a mess. If you can still seal the chicken, you've got the right amount.

Press the seams of the pocket together. And season the outsides of the breast with salt and pepper.

Melt some butter and olive oil in the same pan you sauteed the onions and celery in. Use medium heat.

Once the butter is melted and the pan is hot, carefully lay the chicken in the hot pan, seam-side down. Let cook for 4-5 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown.

Carefully flip the breasts over and cook the other side for another 4-5 minutes.

Pop the pan into a 350F oven (you did use an oven-safe pan, right?) for 12-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked completely through.

Put the rest of the stuffing in a baking dish and let that cook through, too.

The stuffing will plump up inside the chicken breasts, making a pretty picture.














If you feel so motivated, you could make a simple gravy with the pan drippings--just a bit of flour (and a little more butter, if the pan looks dry), and some chicken broth, and you've made yourself a mini Thanksgiving in a pan. Way easier than roasting a whole turkey, huh?

Recipe: Chicken Breasts Stuffed With Cranberry-Apple Dressing
 

6 c. bread cubes
1/4 c. coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 c. fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 rib celery, diced
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 tsp. dried sage
salt and pepper, to taste
1 box chicken broth

two large chicken breasts
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil


In a large bowl, combine bread cubes, pecans, cranberries, and apple.

In a large, oven-safe pan, saute onions and celery in butter until softened. Add to bread cubes. Add thyme, sage, salt, and pepper.

Add chicken broth, stirring until all bread cubes are moistened and herbs are evenly distributed.

On a cutting board, carefully cut a pocket into the chicken breasts. Stuff with bread mixture. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken.

Using the same pan as before, melt butter and olive oil over medium heat. Place chicken breasts in pan, seam-side down. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip chicken over; repeat.

Place pan in a 350F oven for 12-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve immediately.

Rosemary-Garlic Foccacia

With all the crock pot soup I've been making, I've felt the urge to have an equally hearty accompaniment. I suddenly found myself thinking of foccacia.

But not just any foccacia. Foccacia studded with rosemary, garlic, and big flakes of salt.

A tablespoon of yeast (or a package, if you're using the premeasured packages) is your first ingredient.

Warm-ish water will help wake the yeast up.

If you're not sure if your water is too hot, stick your finger in it. The water should be slightly warmer than your body. If it hurts your hand, it's too hot! It will kill the yeast and your bread won't rise.

I recommend slowly heating your water in the microwave at 5-10 second increments. You need to start out with cold water--hot water from the tap won't cut it. The hot water will loosen mineral deposits in your pipes. Have you ever looked at the hot water that comes out of your kitchen sink, and seen how cloudy it is? It's minerals.

Sprinkle in half the flour.

Then turn on the mixer. Beat it for about a minute, on high.

Now for the aromatics. Fresh rosemary goes so well with garlic!

Strip the leaves off the woody branches.

Grab some garlic.

Chop the garlic and the rosemary together. The moisture in the garlic will help the rosemary not fly all over the place, and the rosemary oil will infuse into the garlic bits.

Pour in the rest of the flour, the herbs and garlic, and some olive oil.

The kitchen smells so good right now.

Mix together. And add some salt.

Beat the dough until it pulls away from the mixer in one big ball.

Grab a bowl and drizzle in some olive oil. This will help your dough rise and make it easier to remove it later.

Turn the dough out of the mixing bowl, and stretch it. Pinch the edges underneath, to make a ball.

Move the dough to the bowl and cover with some plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for an hour (or more), until doubled in size.

Like this.

Pick out a nonstick baking sheet and pour on some olive oil. Make sure the oil is well distributed and that every nook and cranny of the sheet gets a coating of oil.

Turn your dough onto the baking sheet.

Use your fingers and do your best to spread the dough evenly around the pan.

Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for another 20-30 minutes.

It'll really fill the pan!

Use your fingertips to make little divots in the dough. Then brush some olive oil over the top of the dough.

Chop up more rosemary and garlic.

Sprinkle it over the top of the dough. Sprinkle on some coarse salt, too. I used a coarse gray sea salt, but kosher salt is okay too.













Bake at 425F for 25-30 minutes until the top of the bread is golden brown on top and cooked through on the bottom. Let it cool slightly before cutting and serving!

Recipe: Rosemary-Garlic Foccacia

1 package yeast
1 2/3 c. warm water

4 3/4 c. flour

1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 c. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. coarse salt

In a large bowl, combine yeast and water. Add half the flour; beat on high for a minute. Add rosemary and garlic; beat until combined. Add the rest of the flour, the olive oil, and the salt. Beat until dough is soft and elastic and pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Turn dough out and place in a oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, at least an hour.

Oil a baking sheet very, very well, Turn dough onto sheet and use your fingers to evenly distribute the dough in the pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Use your fingertips to press small indents all over the top of the dough. Brush dough with olive oil, and sprinkle rosemary, garlic, and salt over the top.

Bake in a 425F pan for 30-35 minutes, until dough is golden on the top and crisp on the bottom. Cool for 5-10 minutes. If possible, turn out bread from the pan after cooling; if not possible, cut bread into serving-size squares and remove from pan (to prevent the bottom of the brad getting moist.)

Gingerbread

I have not had enough gingerbread in my life. A nice, thick slice of spicy gingerbread, with a drizzle of frosting, maybe spread with some apple butter and accompanied by a cup of hot cider...mmm. This recipe makes just enough for one loaf, and is so quick and easy that you'll hardly remember it took any effort at all.

You'll need a stick of softened butter and some brown sugar.

Cream them together until the butter is light and fluffy.

In an ideal world, I would have done that. But I got distracted and cracked the egg in before doing so.

It worked out fine. Just be more attentive than me, and do things in the right order.

Once you've followed the (correct!) instructions, add the molasses. Usually I would say pour the molasses into a greased measuring cup. But I had just a cup left in the bottle, so I poured it right in.

To get the rest of the molasses out of the bottle, I added some water and shook. You need water later in the recipe anyway, so if you're at the bottom of your bottle like me, just add your premeasured cup to the bottle and shake it around. You get water that looks like this. But you've also gotten all the molasses. And you won't have to throw away a molasses-coated bottle, which I'm sure would turn your kitchen to ant central in about five seconds. Anyway.

Set the molasses water aside for now.

Back in the mixing bowl ...

... scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is getting mixed evenly. Stir until all the molasses is distributed evenly throughout the batter.

Add the flour (a bit at a time, to help your batter out.)

Then the baking soda.

Here are your gingerbread spices.

I wanted to add a bit of minced candied ginger too, but I couldn't find any. If you have some and want to add it, a tablespoon would be lovely.

Add the spices to the bowl.

Now you can nab your water. Slowly pour it in (not all at once--just a bit at a time.)

Be sure to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl!

Steal a container of applesauce from your Kid and crack it open before she notices.

Dump it in quick!

I would never hear the end of it if she caught me. "Why are you using my snack? That's my snack ... " Nevermind that I'm making a way better snack with this snack ...

Use the butter wrapper to butter a loaf pan. Or just use cooking spray.

Yup. I used salted butter. For baking! Gasp!

It was all I had. I just added less salt to make up for it.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Then toss it in a 350F oven for about an hour.

When a toothpick inserted into the center of the gingerbread comes out clean, that means it can come out!

Let the loaf pan cool for, say, 15 minutes before you try to turn the gingerbread out. Otherwise, the heat and moisture might cause some breakage.

Now that it's out and cooling, you can make the frosting!

Okay. This doesn't really need frosting. But I find the contrast of white frosting and brown gingerbread so, so pretty, and leaving it plain just seems boring.

Just a little butter will kick off the frosting-making. Microwave it for 20 seconds to melt it.

When it's melted, dump in the powdered sugar and use a small whisk or a fork to lump them together.

Add milk or cream in small increments until you get the consistency you're looking for.

Like this. I added a bit more afterward.

And don't forget to flavor with vanilla!

That's why I added a little more cream after the vanilla. Vanilla extract is a liquid, too, so adding it would thin the frosting out as well. I didn't want it to get too runny.

See how smooth and nice this is? :)

When the frosting is the consistency you want, just pour it onto your gingerbread.

Then cut yourself a slice.

This was The Kid's slice. I was a nice mom and gave her the frosting-covered heel.












Do I really have to tell you the next step? ;)

Recipe: Gingerbread

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
1 egg
1 c. molasses
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/6 tsp. (just a pinch!) cardamom
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. minced candied ginger (optional)

1 c. water
1/2 c. applesauce


Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until combined. Add molasses and beat until combined.

Add flour and baking soda slowly, until completely combined. Add spices.

Slowly add water, until completely combined. Scrape down the bowl!

Add applesauce and stir until combined.

Pour into a well-greased loaf pan (or a 9" cake pan) and bake for 350F for 1 hour. Let cool completely before drizzling with frosting.


Recipe: Gingerbread Frosting

1 tbsp. melted butter
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp. milk or cream

Combine all ingredients. Drizzle over gingerbread and allow to harden.