Cream Cheese Stuffed, Raspberry Glazed Chicken Breasts

 The ingredient for the Improv Challenge for June are raspberries and cream.  When you think of raspberries and cream, the mind automatically goes to something sweet.  When Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker mentioned in her facebook post that the cream could be cream cheese, and she was excited to see if anyone would make a savory raspberry and cream dish; I thought why not.

I remembered that I had seen many recipes for cream cheese stuffed chicken breast, so maybe I could take that idea and go with a raspberry sauce/glaze to top the chicken.  This post is what I came up with, and we have had it for dinner twice now. 

I added garlic powder and sliced green onion to the cream cheese filling and made a sort of sweet/sour sauce/glaze for topping the chicken.  This wasn’t all that hard to make, and I think that it would make a nice dish to serve to guests.

The chicken breasts that I purchased were quite large, and some of them included the tenderloin like the one above.  I sliced off the tenderloin and cut the remaining piece in half so got three pieces from one chicken breast.  This does make it a little hard to specify exactly how many chicken breasts are needed for this recipe so I am going to say 4 small chicken breast halves.

You can soften the cream cheese quickly by putting in a zip top bag and placing it in very warm water for about 10 minutes.

Cream Cheese Stuffed Raspberry Glazed Chicken Breasts
1 3-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened (see tip above)
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 green onion, thinly sliced
4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 egg beaten with 1 T. water
1/3 c. panko crumbs
3/4 t. seasoned salt
1/4 c. butter
Raspberry Sweet/Sour Sauce (see recipe below)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small bowl combine softened cream cheese, garlic powder and sliced green onion.  Mix well.  Set aside.  Pound chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap to 1/4-inch thickness.  Spread each breast with 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture.  Roll up and secure with toothpicks.  Combine egg and water in a shallow pie pan.  Place panko crumbs in another shallow pie pan.  Add seasoned salt and mix well.  Slice butter and place in a foil-lined 10x13-inch baking pan.  Place pan in oven to melt butter.  Coat a chicken breast with the egg mixture, roll in the panko mixture and place on a sheet of waxed paper.  Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.  Remove pan from oven and place chicken breasts in the melted butter.  Return to oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Turn chicken breasts over and bake for another 20-25 minutes until done.  Meanwhile prepare Raspberry Sauce.  Spread some of the sauce over the chicken breasts and bake another 5 minutes.  Serve remaining sauce to spoon over the breasts at the table.  Makes 4 servings.

Raspberry Sweet/Sour Sauce
1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen raspberries
1 t. minced garlic
3 T. brown sugar
1 T. balsamic vinegar
1 T. molasses
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 t. Dijon mustard
2 T. ketchup
1 T. lemon juice
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper

Heat raspberries and garlic together in a small saucepan.  When hot, add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 10 minutes until thickened. Strain, if desired.  (I don’t.)  Makes about 1 cup.

All the details for joining in this fun challenge are included in Kristen's Improv Page.

An InLinkz Link-up

Baharat Spiced Chicken Thighs-Secret Recipe Club

My Secret Recipe Club assigned blog for June was Cafe Lynnylu.  Lynne has been blogging for awhile, and if you haven’t stopped by her blog, you should, if only to see her wonderful black and white photographs.  Of course, she has great recipes there, too.

I have apples to make Apple Butterscotch Oat Cookies later this week.  I also want to try the Baked Yeasted Doughnuts.  They sound delicious.

As I have mentioned before, I like to dig deep into the posts in a blog to see what I can find.  When I read the post for Baharat Roast Chicken with Brussels Sprouts and Carrots, I found two recipes that I think are real gems.  Within that post were recipes for Cumin Rice and Baharat Seasoning.  I made both the recipes.  I will post my version of Cumin Rice soon, but decided that I wanted to share the Baharat Seasoning recipe here for my Secret Recipe post.

I love to try new and exotic seasoning blends so am always excited when I find a recipe for a new one.  Lynne says that this is a North African spice blend. She used this on roast chicken, and I plan to make that meal when Brussels Sprouts are in season again.  Chicken thighs were what I had on hand so I made the spice blend and used it on them.  I had all the spices except for the coriander.  I made sure that it got on my grocery list for my next trip to the grocery store.

After using this spice blend on the chicken thighs, I know that it is one that I will used often.  It adds a wonderful flavor that you like, but can’t quite put your finger on what the flavors are.

Thanks for a useful new recipe, Lynne.

 

Baharat Spice Blend
from Cafe Lynnylu
2 T. freshly ground black pepper
2 T. paprika
2 T. ground cumin
1 T. ground coriander
1 t. freshly ground nutmeg (I did not have whole nutmeg so just used already ground)
1 t. ground cloves
1 t. ground cinnamon

Measure ingredients into a small bowl and mix well to combine. Stir before using. Use on meat, poultry or vegetables. Store tightly covered away from light.  Makes about 1/2 cup.

Baharat Spiced Chicken Thighs
2 T. butter
2 T. vegetable oil
6 chicken bone-in, skinned chicken thighs
1 egg
1 T. water
1 c. panko crumbs
2 t. Baharat Seasoning Blend, divided

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a 10x15-inch baking pan with aluminum foil.  Place butter and salad oil in baking pan and place in oven until melted.  Meanwhile, beat egg and water together in a shallow pan.  Add 1 t. seasoning blend and mix well.  Place panko in another shallow pan.  Add 1 t. seasoning blend and mix well.  Dip chicken thighs in egg mixture, then roll in panko to coat.  Place on a sheet of waxed paper.  When butter mixture has melted, remove from oven and place chicken thighs in baking pan.  Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning thighs over after 30 minutes.  Remove thighs from pan and place on a serving plate.  Makes 6 chicken thighs.

Note:  We did not eat these cold, but they were nice and crispy, and I think that they would be good cold also.

Be sure to visit Cafe Lynnylu and see those great photos.

To learn how you can join in the Secret Recipe Club fun, visit the info page here.