For as long as I can remember, my grandmother has been warming my family with her chicken and dumplings. It’s the perfect comfort food during the long, oh so long, really, really long, winter months. I am not a huge fan of winter, in case you are wondering. This winter, I asked her if she would show me how to make it myself. It’s not the same as when she makes it of course, but it’s a close second!  Note, don’t use measuring devices to make the following recipe, it just wouldn’t be right!

Cast of characters: one whole chicken, 1-2 cans cream of chicken soup, salt, pepper, 1 egg, heavy whipping cream or whole milk, and self-rising flour.

Cover your chicken with water in a large pot and season with salt and pepper. Boil until it cooked.  Remove the chicken and set it aside.  Strain the broth and return the broth in the pot to the stove. Put the heat on high to start it boiling.

Empty one or two cans of cream of chicken soup into a bowl and stir in some heavy whipping cream or whole milk to thin it out.  Set aside.

Add the cream of chicken soup mixture to your broth. Shred the cooked chicken and add it.

Crack one egg into a bowl and add some heavy cream or whole milk. Add about 2 cups of self-rising flour. It is VERY IMPORTANT that the flour be self-rising. If it isn’t, your dumplings will turn out dense and gooey instead of fluffy and light.

Mix up your dumpling dough until it is a very sticky consistency.  Add more cream or flour to your mix as needed.  Make sure your broth is boiling.

Use a small spoon to scoop a bit of the dough from the bowl and use another spoon to push it into the lightly boiling broth, forming a dumpling.  Continue adding the dumplings until your pot is full.  Push the dumplings down into the broth as they cook.  It only takes a few minutes until the dumplings are done.

Ladle into bowls and serve topped with a little bit more pepper.  This is really a super easy recipe.  You can even start with canned broth and leftover chicken if you want!