Bready or Not: Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
There are a lot of slow cooker chicken and dumpling recipes out there, but I sought out one that makes everything from scratch. I made it, tweaked it, and loved it… so here it is!
There is just something about chicken and dumplings on a cold winter’s day. It is soul food. The recipe I made for years required me to basically camp by the stove for two hours. I wanted something a lot more convenient.
Most of the slow cooker recipes for this use lots of canned stuff and grocery store biscuits. I found a from-scratch recipe on How Sweet Eats and have tweaked it to use less broth, more seasoning, and boneless thighs. I find thighs work a lot better to the crock pot since they are less likely to dry out over the long cooking period.
If you’re in need of something to warm your gullet and your soul, make this. The leftovers are darn good for the next few days, too, with or without the dumplings.
Modified from How Sweet Eats.
Bready or Not: Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1/2 sweet onion diced
- 1 cup baby carrots whole and halved
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 1/2 - 3 pounds boneless chicken thighs cut into halves
- salt and pepper
- 40 ounces low-sodium chicken stock or broth
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup half & half or milk
dumplings
- 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- herbs to taste parsley, basil, etc
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter cold, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup half & half or milk
Instructions
Start the chicken
- In the bottom of a 5 or 6 quart crockpot, layer the diced onion half, carrots, and garlic. Lay the chicken thighs on top and season them with salt and pepper.
- Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once it's melted, whisk in flour and cook for 2-3 minutes to create a roux. Once it's golden in color, add 2 cups of chicken broth. Mix it well as it rises to a boil; it'll thicken considerably.
- After about 4-5 minutes, pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables. Add the remaining chicken broth/stock. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4 hours.
Add the dumplings
- Change the slow cooker to high heat. Shred or cut up the chicken; it's okay if it's not fully cooked since it has more time to cook. Stir the half & half into the crock pot, and put the cover on again as you make the dumplings.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, herbs, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Use a fork or fingers to crumble in the butter until it's evenly dispersed. Add in the half and half or milk until a sticky dough forms.
- Use a tablespoon to dollop the dough into the crock pot. Cover and cook for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The dumplings will expand to cover the top. The dumplings are cooked when they are soft and no longer raw and sticky in the middle.
- Serve immediately. Leftovers are fantastic heated in the microwave. If you need to make more dumplings, use the same recipe again and heat the leftovers and fresh dough on the stovetop.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Biscoff Shortbread Cookies
This is a very meta recipe. Biscoff is a Belgian shortbread cookie you can buy in stores. This recipe uses Biscoff spread to make Biscoff-type shortbread. Whoa.
I actually did a from-scratch version of Biscoff cookies a few years ago, too.
These cookies expand a good bit in the oven, so keep that in mind when you put the dough on the baking sheet. The dough isn’t bad to work with once chilled; if need be, you can add a little water to soften it, or more flour to thicken.
The end result looks like it’s fragile but they are actually quite crisp while still being chewy.
Being shortbread, these are excellent with tea, coffee, or just about anything. Heck, you could even smear Biscoff between two and make them super-meta-Biscoff-sandwich-cookies. Live dangerously.
Modified from The Café Sucre Farine.
Bready or Not: Biscoff Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2/3 cup Creamy Biscoff Spread
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugars until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the Biscoff spread, salt and vanilla extract. Slowly blend in the flour until just combined.
- Divide the dough in half and shape into two discs; wrap each in plastic wrap and stash in the fridge until chilled, at least a few hours or up to a few days.
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees. Prepare baking sheets by using parchment paper or use seasoned stoneware.
- Set one of the discs on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness or just under. Cut cookies into desired shapes and arrange on baking sheet; note that they will spread a good bit, even chilled.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes, until they are firm and golden. Let them sit on baking sheet for 10 minutes then move to wire rack to completely cool. Store cookies in sealed container at room temperature. Best eaten within 2 days.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Honey Blondies
It’s my birthday (Whoo hoo! Thirty-six!) so let’s bake up something that’s likewise blonde and nutty.
These blondies aren’t purely sweet things because they are cut by bittersweet chocolate. The pecans add a crunch that’s a great contrast to the smoothness.
Actually, the word “smooth” is the best way to describe these bars. The batter is very thick and reminds me of caramel candy. It bakes up in a smooth layer. It cuts smoothly, even with the pecans in there. The blondies almost melt in your mouth, too.
Plan ahead to make these because the batter needs to cool in stages because you 1) don’t want to scramble the eggs, and 2) you don’t want the chocolate chips to melt when you stir them in (not like this would be a total disaster, but still).
I’m not sure how long these stay fresh. My husband took them to work and they were GONE in hours. I imagine the bars would freeze well between layers of wax paper, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Oh darn. I guess I should make them again.
Greatly modified from Martha Stewart Living.
Bready or Not: Honey Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 cup pecan pieces
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
Instructions
- Melt butter and honey in a large saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for about 20 minutes.
- Since the contents are still likely a bit warm, add some of the flour and stir in to cool things off. Stir in the eggs and vanilla extract followed by the rest of the flour and the salt. Mix until just combined, and let it continue to cool about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. Prepare a 9x13 pan by lining with foil and spraying with Pam or buttering the surface well.
- Mix the pecan pieces and chocolate into the batter, then spread into the pan.
- Bake for about 30 minutes; the edges will just be turning brown. Let the blondies cool completely on a wire rack. Use the foil to lift them out to cut into squares. Store in an airtight container.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Healthy No-Bake Maple Breakfast Cookies
Happy New Year! Let’s make a healthy start. It’s no secret I love maple. This particular recipe has been a huge breakfast favorite of mine for the past six months, along with my other Healthy Breakfast Cookies.
These have another advantage, too… other than stronger maple flavor. They are fast to prepare. Even with my slow stovetop, I can whip these up and have them cooling in about 20 minutes.
Plus, these are fantastic to make and freeze! Since I eat three for breakfast, that means I can have a week’s worth of breakfast stashed away for now or later.
These are similar to the Maple Nut Butter No-Bakes I posted a while back, but this breakfast version is a heck of a lot healthier. No sugar. No butter. I like the taste more, too. It has a great, mild maple and nut butter flavor to it, and the oats soak just enough so that the cookies are perfectly chewy.
Customize these all kinds of ways, too. Use apple butter, pumpkin butter, etc. I’ve made them with cashew butter and almond butter, and combinations thereof. You could certainly use other kinds of milk, too, but I stick with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
Greatly modified from Cookin’ Canuck.
Bready or Not: Healthy No-Bake Maple Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 - 1 tsp maple flavor to preference
- 1/2 cup apple butter or other fruit butter
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tb almond milk
- 1/2 cup almond butter or other nut butter
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tb pure maple syrup
- sprinkle salt
- 1/2 cup pepitas or other seeds/nuts, optional
Instructions
- Measure out the oats and the two extracts, keeping them separate, and have ready near the stove. Prepare a large baking sheet with full coverage of wax paper.
- In a medium saucepan, mix together the apple butter, almond milk, maple syrup, and salt. Heat on medium, stirring often.
- After about ten minutes, the mixture will thicken; cook it at that level for another minute or two. If you have a candy thermometer, this thickening starts at about 180-degrees; that few minutes will take it to 200-degrees, and make sure it gets no hotter than that. Remove the pot from heat.
- Stir in the oats followed by the two extracts. Add pepitas or nuts, if desired. Stir until everything is covered.
- Use a tablespoon scoop to dole out cookies onto the prepared wax paper. This will be about 20 cookies or about 29 if seeds/nuts are added. Once they are all scooped, use your fingers to gently press in stray oats.
- Let cool for about 30 minutes. They can be kept sealed at room temperature but taste even better from the fridge; store between layers of wax paper. They can also be frozen.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Guest Lawrence M. Schoen with Cold Porridge for Anthropomorphic Elephants
I’m happy to welcome Lawrence M. Schoen as the final Bready or Not guest for 2015! Lawrence is a good friend, a Klingon linguist, and is about ready to burst in joy because his novel is out from Tor this week. Barsk features anthropomorphic elephants in space. How cool is that? Lawrence, quite appropriately, is here today with a recipe that may be enjoyed by such wayfaring pachyderms.
Cold Porridge suitable for Anthropomorphic Elephants
There’s not a lot of cooking going on in my novel, Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard. There’s a fair amount of eating, but since the main characters are anthropomorphic elephants living in a rainforest, most of what they eat is in a raw state — leaves, assorted grains and grasses, fresh and dried fruit.
In an earlier draft of the novel, I had a scene where Jorl, my protagonist, is visiting another planet, one inhabited by several different species/races of uplifted animals but which hasn’t seen an elephant in a millennium. In that scene, Jorl’s doing a signing at a bookstore and a helpful clerk brings him a large mug and a tureen of vanilla cocoa he can presumably refill it from. To the horror of everyone around him, Jorl dips his trunk directly in the tureen and empties it in one go. I miss this scene and I’m hoping to find a home for it one day. More importantly for this blog, I thought I had invented the idea of blending vanilla in with hot chocolate (which I had been doing for years by adding vanilla extract). Imagine my surprise when I saw you could buy this as a pre-packaged flavor.
But in terms of an actual recipe from the book, let’s talk about “cold porridge.” The first anthropomorphic elephant we meet in the book is Rüsul, and he’s on a raft on the ocean sailing off to his death. Along with the fruit and grasses included in his provisions, there’s mention of grain for making cold porridge. It’s worth noting that it’s almost always raining on Barsk, which is why a hot meal is complicated (not that making a fire on a raft would be a good idea even if it were easier). There are many variations on this, depending on what fruits you want to use, whether or not you choose to go with yogurt or coconut milk, and so on. Here’s the one I personally like best:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 sliced and chopped banana
1 pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened dried coconut
1 tablespoon sliced almonds
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
Blend everything — except the banana! —together. Ideally, you want to put this into a sealed container and shake it furiously. Add the banana bits and repeat the blending/shaking. Then put the whole thing in the refrigerator overnight. By morning, it will have all set, and you’ll have a delicious cold porridge to start your day or in case any anthropomorphic elephants happen by.
Lawrence M. Schoen holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology, has been nominated for the Campbell, Hugo, and Nebula awards, is a world authority on the Klingon language, operates the small press Paper Golem, and is a practicing hypnotherapist specializing in authors’ issues.
His previous science fiction includes many light and humorous adventures of a space-faring stage hypnotist and his alien animal companion. His most recent book, Barsk, takes a very different tone, exploring issues of prophecy, intolerance, friendship, conspiracy, and loyalty, and redefines the continua between life and death. He lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his wife and their dog
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Bready or Not: Snickerdoodle Muffins
Let’s end the year on a sweet note! How about some Snickerdoodle Muffins for breakfast or dessert?
These things taste and look just like the cookie version. From straight overhead, they even look like cookies!
The muffin texture is light and fluffy. This is because the butter and sugar are beaten to fluffiness, and then the sour cream creates tenderness without any negative impact on taste. The dough is thick enough to be rolled in cinnamon sugar.
I have made this as normal muffin size and as mini muffins. Both are fabulous and freeze well for later eating, too. Unless you plan to eat them the first day, do store them in the fridge. At room temperature, after two days they go really spongy and soft, but they can be saved by sticking them in the fridge or freezer.
Many of the sweets I make go with my husband to work, but not these. He adores Snickerdoodles. These are all for him.
Heavily modified from Rincon-Cocina.
Bready or Not: Snickerdoodle Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, room temperature
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sour cream
Topping
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin or 24-cup mini muffin tin by adding liners and spraying them with Pam.
- With a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for about three minutes, until it's light and fluffy. Add the egg.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, and nutmeg.
- Take turns adding the flour mix and the sour cream to the butter-sugar mix until everything is just combined.
- Prepare a bowl with the topping sugar and cinnamon. Use a 1/4 cup or scoop for large muffins or a teaspoon scoop for mini muffins, and dole out a ball of batter into the topping mix. Roll it to cover it, then transfer the ball to the prepared muffin tin.
- Bake large muffins for 21-24 minutes; bake mini muffins at 12-14 minutes. Do a toothpick test to ensure doneness. Let muffins cool in tin for about 10-15 minutes, then use a fork to gently pry them out to set on a rack to finish cooling.
- Note that muffins keep best in the fridge. At room temperature, they will go very soft after about two days, but can be revived by being popped in the fridge. Muffins can be frozen for an extended time, but remember to remove the liners before freezing.
- OM NOM NOM!
