Cranberry Chicken Balls

Cranberry Chicken Balls are an easy, impressive dinner to make. Buttery, flaky crescent rolls are filled with tender chicken, sweet and tart dried cranberries, mildly salty mozzarella, and bright green onions for a beautiful symphony of flavors.

I ate an etire cup and a half of sugar in one day. How did I accomplish this amazing (yet disgusting) feat?

Caramel Raisin Pudding. It’s a family recipe I have yet to share on this blog. And it has 2 3/4 cups of sugar in it. I made it for dessert last night, because despite my hypocritical vilification of sugar (see this post and this post about the Voldemort-like dangers of sugar), I still believe that Sunday dinner must be followed by Sunday dessert. And so I made this Caramel Raisin Pudding, knowing FULL WELL that my children would not eat it (due to its “rustic” appearance and the fact that it has raisins in it, which are a lousy substitute for chocolate chips in their minds) and that my husband and I would have to eat it all ourselves. Which we did. In one day.

Now that you’ve overcome your initial reaction of shock and horror, you may have done the math and figured out that half of 2 3/4 cup is not exactly 1 1/2 cups. Well, I also made cookies today, and I may have had one or two (or six), so that makes up for the rest of the missing sugar.

I ran on the treadmill this morning. Does that make up for the 72 teaspoons of sugar I ate? (It may interest you to know that there are 773 calories in one cup of sugar. It may further interest you to know that if my math is correct, this means that I ate 1,160 calories in sugar in the past 24 hours. Finally, it may interest you to know that I am still alive, miraculously). Since I burned a whopping 223 calories on the treadmill this morning, the answer to that question is no. No it does not.

But guess what. You don’t have to eat a cup and a half of sugar in one day when you make these Cranberry Chicken Balls. (And, your kids will most likely eat them because they have dried cranberries in them, which are infinitely better than raisins, just like home-made ice cream is infinitely better than “Frozen Dairy Dessert,” which isn’t even ice cream–but don’t get me started.)

Let me show you how easy they are to make.

First, you get two cans of crescent rolls. Open the cans and lay out the triangles of dough on a cutting board. (You’ll only be able to fit one can of dough at a time). Arrange the triangles so that two are together, forming a rectangle, Press together the seams  in the middle so that there is no split in the dough.

Then you are going to take your chicken salad (made with shredded chicken, mayo, dried cranberries, mozzarella and green onions) and put 1/4 cup in the center of the rectangle.

Now you start folding up the corners of the dough and stretching it so that you completely cover the chicken salad.

Then just place the rolls seam-side down onto an un-greased cookie sheet. (You can use silicone mats or stoneware if desired).

Then if you want to get really fancy, you can put chopped walnuts or pecans on top. (You can also mix them into the chicken salad, but I put them on top just in case people don’t like nuts or are allergic. If you are feeding guests, you may want to make some with and some without nuts, just in case). In the spirit of full-disclosure, I should let you know that the balls with the nuts on top were a little doughy (because the nuts blocked the heat, I think). So you may want to put those on a separate pan and bake them a little longer than the uncovered balls.

Then just bake for 12 minutes at 375 degrees, and voila! Dinner is served!

This recipe first appeared on Yellow Bliss Road, where I am a contributor.

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Cranberry Chicken Balls

Author: Melissa Howell

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 1 green onion sliced
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 cans uncooked crescent rolls
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans optional

Instructions

1. Mix together the chicken, green onion, dried cranberries, mozzarella cheese, and mayonnaise.
2. Open the cans of crescent rolls and spread the dough out on a cutting board, Separate into rectangles (leave two triangles attached to each other) and press the triangles together in the middle to seal the seam. You should have 8 rectangles of dough.
3. Put 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture into the center of each rectangle.
4. Fold up the corners of the rectangle to cover the chicken mixture, pressing together to seal.
5. Place seam-side down onto an un-greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes, until top is golden brown.
7. Note: If using stoneware, your baking time will be longer.

For great sides to go with these Cranberry Chicken Balls, try these!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Asparagus

Pink Lady Salad

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