She {hearts} Georgia Sunshine Fried Chicken

One of my favorite foods is fried chicken! I came across a new fried chicken recipe recently in the recipe book, Cooking with Pheeling: The Newest and Tastiest recipes and ideas from Philadelphia, by Kraft Foods. We love it so much, I thought I’d share it for all of you to try as well.

Georgia Sunshine Fried Chicken

Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tbsp. honey, divided
1 egg, beaten
1-1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3/4 cup pecans, shelled, chopped
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
salt
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4 oz. each)*
1 cup butter
1/2 cup orange juice
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz pkg) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cover baking sheet with foil.
2. In a shallow dish, mix 2 tbsp. honey, egg, and garlic. In another shallow dish, combine pecans, bread crumbs and a little salt.
3. Sprinkle chicken breasts with a little salt. Dip in the egg mixture, then immediately roll in the nut mixture. Press crumbs into chicken to secure.
4. Place on baking sheet, sprinkle with any remaining nut mixture.
5. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.
6. While chicken bakes, melt butter in skillet over low heat. Stir in remaining 1 cup honey, orange juice and cream cheese; cook and stir until cream cheese is melted and sauce is well blended.
7. Pour sauce over chicken.

*Note: The second time I made this recipe, instead of using 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, I used 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts and cut them half. Having two strips per breast. It seemed to give each piece of chicken double the flavor!

Estimated prep time is 10 minutes, but I think it’s more like 15-20. The book even suggested to pair this dish with your favorite green vegetable or a spinach leaf salad. We had steamed green beans and slices of tomato and cucumber to go with our Georgia Sunshine Fried Chicken! AND, its just as good as leftovers! Enjoy!