Chicken and Dumplings

Today was chilly and I had a craving for one of my favorites- chicken and dumplings!  I didn't really start liking this soup until I found a dumpling recipe that didn't produce gumballs of dough in my soup.  The dumplings come out to be fluffy and tender like soft downy pillows of doughy goodness.  Here's the recipe..

Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients:
3 to 4 cups chicken stock
1 chicken breast
2 carrots peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 small potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Tbsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried sage
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. cream
salt and pepper to taste

For the dumplings:
1 cup flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk to milk


1. Poach the chicken breast in the chicken stock on medium heat. Add sage and thyme. Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Remove chicken once cooked and set aside to cool.  When cooled, shred the chicken.
2. In a separate pan, cook the butter and flour to make a roux. Set aside.
3. Add carrots and potatoes to the chicken stock and cook until just tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Add the shredded chicken. Add the roux and stir until the stock becomes slightly thickened. Add the cream and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Mix all of the ingredients for the dumpling in a separate bowl. The dough will be a  looser wet dough but shouldn't be watery/liquidy.  Use a small spoon to scoop the dough, they should be approximately quarter sized balls. The dough will expand once cooked so don't make the dumplings too big! Gently drop the dumpling dough into the soup one scoop at a time.  Allow the dumplings to cook for about 20 minutes until they float to the top and feel slightly firm.
Serves about 4.