Very Easy Homemade Chicken and Dumplings

The Flatlander and I were kid free this week, and instead of playing around with exotic recipes, I stayed close to comfort foods and traditional meals.  Last night's dinner was proof of that.  I tried my hand at chicken and dumplings, and I am ashamed to say it took me 40 years to even try making the dish.  My family's history proves a legacy of failed dumplings and horrible dough accidents.  With that in mind, I entered dumpling territory with a sense of trepidation.  Come on, I am from the Appalachian Mountains.  I should have been born with the recipe already implanted in my head. 

Well, since that dumpling gene passed me by, I turned to Pinterest, which directed me to tastykitchen.com.  The recipe is beyond simple and everything turned out deliciously:

Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tbs. butter
Less than 1 cup of milk and a pinch of salt
1 container of chicken broth
Cooked chicken

Mix the dry ingredients together and cut the butter into it with either a fork or pastry blender. 
Add milk and mix together forming a dough ball.   Put the dough onto a heavily floured surface, and roll out until it is thin, like a pie crust.
Cut dumplings out using a basket weave pattern.  You can use a pizza cutter, dough cutter, or regular knife.
Drop dumplings into boiling broth and stir gently, so not crush the dumplings.  Throw in the extra flour clinging to the dumplings to make the gravy. Simmer.
Add chicken and serve.

To make it taste like the church dinners at home, I added pepper.

The next time I fix this, I am going to add water to the simmering dumplings so the gravy isn't as thick.  I guess it is a matter of gravy taste.

Oh, and the Flatlander approves of this recipe, and he just ate all of the leftovers for lunch.  Sunday, for Easter dinner, I plan on making the dumplings only, without chicken.