Cranberry Baked Chicken

 
The other day when Mitzie wasn't feeling well, I sent Todd to the store to buy some chicken breasts so that I could poach some for when she started to feel better.  I shoulda known better  . . .
 
He came home with the cheapest chicken thighs ever . . .  bone in, skin on, the value pack. Not what I would normally buy even for us to eat, but certainly much too rich for a poorly dog to eat.  Never mind  . . .  at least he brought home chicken.
 
I recognize that it could always have been much worse.  In marriage as well as life, you need to learn to pick your battles and when to bite your tongue.  😉
  
I bit my tongue . . . . and then went to the shops myself a bit later on and picked up some chicken breasts.
  
I didn't want to waste the chicken he had bought however, even if it wasn't what I normally would have purchased.  So I decided to bake them with a sauce.
 
I picked a recipe for a cranberry chicken from the Taste of Home, the Complete Guide to Country Cooking cookbook  . . .  it looked tasty . . .
 
And then I proceeded to start making another recipe from the book for oven BBQ chicken.  DUH!
 
I hate it when that happens.  SO I did what any good cook would do.  I cobbled the two recipes together and came up with this! 
 
Tender juicy, finger licking tasty, saucy chicken . . .
 
The original recipe (s) had called for browning the chicken in oil first.  I decided to cut out that step and the extra calories all together . . . totally un-necessary.  I oven browned it at a high temperature without using any fat.  Worked perfectly.
  
Once it was browned I poured my cobbled together sauce over top and baked it until the chicken was tender and the sauce had reduced to a lovely thick glaze/sauce.  I served it with baked potatoes, peas and carrots.

Cranberry Baked Chicken

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Author: Marie RaynerOven baked Chicken with a sweet and tangy finger-licking delicious sauce.

ingredients:

• 3 - 4 pounds skin on/bone in chicken pieces
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 185g tomato ketchup (3/4 cup)
• 120ml water (1/2 cup)
• 80ml cider vinegar (1/3 cup)
• 3 TBS soft dark brown sugar
• 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp prepared mustard
• 115g whole berry cranberry sauce (1/2 cup)

instructions:

How to cook Cranberry Baked Chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 230*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Place the chicken pieces in a single layer in a dish large enough to hold them in a single layer.  Season generously with salt and black pepper. Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes while you make the sauce.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion.  Cook until softened, stirring frequently, without browning.  Whisk in the ketchup, water, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and cranberry sauce.  Bring to the boil, whisking well to combine.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.
3. Reduce the oven temperature t 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Pour the cranberry sauce over the top of  and around the chicken in the dish.  Return to the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, basting frequently with the sauce.
4. Serve the chicken hot with some of the sauce spooned over top.

Created using The Recipes Generator 
 
I should have called this Cranberry Yum Yum Chicken, because that is what it was  . . .  most delicious!  A happy accident to say the least!