Baked Almond Chicken

  A recipe from The Taste Of Home Recipe Card Collection for chicken looked very good and slightly different. We had it for supper and thought it was quite good. I will make it again and there was none left when supper was done.

  I had bought a whole, small (3 pound) chicken. The smaller sizes are now hard to find, but they are more tender and make a meal size chicken. I do save the back and the bony parts of the wings for soup, but the rest of it fed four of us.

  I changed the recipe to suit my families tastes.The original recipe said to discard the cream and drippings you bake the chicken in. I found that hard to do, so served it as a sauce with mashed potatoes. There was some of the butter the chicken is dipped in, mixed in with the cream and we just used it as is. I am sure that you could thicken it for a cream gravy also.

  The almonds were a great topping on the chicken and a good taste. It baked in the time listed and with no frying was easy to fix and no grease to clean up. It sounds like a lot of butter for the chicken, but the amount was perfect for the amount of chicken. Be sure to pat the chicken dry before flouring.

Baked Almond Chicken

1 fryer chicken (3 to 3 ½ pounds)

¾ cup all purpose flour (I use gluten free)

8 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon each, celery salt, salt, paprika (I used ½ teaspoon paprika)

½ cup sliced almonds

1 cup half and half cream

3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs or crushed gluten free crackers and 1 tablespoon melted butter

  Grease a 9 x 13 pan to put the chicken in to bake. Put the flour in a large resealable bag and add chicken a few pieces at a time. Shake and tap off excess flour. In a shallow dish, combine the butter and seasonings. Add the chicken pieces and turn to coat. Place the chicken in the greased pan. When it is all in the pan, pour the cream around the chicken and sprinkle the almonds on top of the chicken pieces. 

  Bake for 45 minutes. Drain the cream, saving for sauce or gravy. Sprinkle the dry bread crumbs that have been stirred into the melted butter, over the chicken. Return to oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer. Chicken will brown.