Category Archives: Cooking & Recipes

I couldn’t get a very good picture of this bread, but I wanted to share the recipe anyway because it’s so yummy This is a slightly modified pinterest recipe…so you can see a better photo there.  And, this is one of those great breads that just gets better with age, so let it sit a while. I made some to share with our Sunday School class last week, and it worked out perfectly because I made it on Saturday and then let it sit wrapped up overnight.

I’m usually an icing queen, so I was all ready to make some for this bread, but it really didn’t need it.

What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 350, and prepare (grease) loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
3. Add egg, milk,  and oil to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened.
4. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon for filling.
5. Spread 1/3 of the batter into bottom of prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar  onto the batter.  Continue to layer 1/3 of batter and 1/3 of cinnamon sugar.

When you sprinkle the final third of cinnamon sugar on top, use your spoon or a knife to swirl the top layer of cinnamon sugar lightly into the batter mix. You don’t want it to be completely mixed up, but you do want the sugar to be slightly moistened by the batter. The cinnamon-sugar on top creates a nice crusty yumminess–almost like a streusel, but not quite.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

And, enjoy

I shared this photo with my weekly meal plan, and received several requests for the recipe. I’d been dragging my feet with this one, but here it is.  This is comfort food at it’s best for me! One of my favorite meals, and it’s frugal. The entire recipe costs less than $2 using homemade chicken broth.

Note: I like my dumplings to be more firm/tough and not fluffy. Also, I prefer the broth to be thinner, as opposed to a thicker gravy.  So, if you like fluffy dumplings in a thick broth? These are not going to be for you.

Also, the absolute BEST way to make these dumplings is with crock pot chicken and homemade chicken stock. I worked it into my meal plan this week, but sometimes I just make the chicken, pick it all off and then freeze it. I also freeze the homemade chicken stock separately, so that I can make them whenever.

What you need:
7 cups homemade chicken stock (If you don’t have real, homemade chicken stock, I recommend Knorr’s Homestyle Chicken Stock–no, I’m not being paid in any way to say that!)
-Additional salt/pepper to taste
-About 2 cups of shredded chicken

For the Dumplings:
-2 cups all purpose flour
-2 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp. salt
-4 tbsp. butter
-1 cup chicken stock (taken from the 7 cups given above)

What To Do: 
-Heat up 7 cups of chicken stock. I usually turn it on at med-high heat and let it heat up while I’m making the dumplings. When it starts getting warm, remove 1 cup of the chicken stock to be used for dumpling dough.

To make dumpling dough:
1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in butter.
2. Mix in warmed chicken stock/broth.  Add flour as necessary to make the dough more workable.
3. Knead your dough for about 5 minutes, or until it becomes smooth.
4. Roll out your dough to about 1/4 inch thick, and cut into pieces (about 1 inch), using a pastry cutter or pizza cutter.

-By now, your remaining 6 cups of broth/stock with shredded chicken should be boiling pretty good. Add dough pieces, dropping them in one at a time. Stir gently so as not to crush or squish them together. (Some people put the extra flour in too, for a thicker gravy but since I prefer mine a bit thinner, I don’t do this. Some of the flour from the dumplings still thickens up your broth a bit so it isn’t watery)

-Cook on medium for about 5 minutes, then turn down to simmering for about 10 more minutes.

And serve.  The dumpling broth is great over mashed potatoes too

And there it is…let me know if you have any questions or if something isn’t clear. It’s actually easier than you’d think.

(For more recipe ideas, check out: Tasty Tuesday,  The Country Cook)