Tag Archives: honey

Burnt Chicken (honey Italian chicken tenders)

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In college my friend, Frank, & I used to make dinner together all the time. He made these delicious chicken tenders one night & I have been hooked ever since. The recipe is incredibly simple – just a few ingredients that marinate into the chicken & then caramelize beautifully. Frank got the recipe from this website, but according to that poster the recipe is older than that. It’s supposed to be a copycat of a Cracker Barrel recipe, which I’ve never tried, but if they’re anything like this recipe I totally recommend them.

The first time I made these for my husband he loved it. It’s his favorite thing I make us for dinner. He’s the one who dubbed this recipe ‘burnt chicken’.

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I promise you it’s not actually burnt! The marinade caramelizes in the pan into these delicious little bits.

The recipe is sooo easy – you just mix together the Italian dressing (zesty is the best for the most flavor), lime juice, & honey, let the chicken marinate for at least an hour, & put all of it in a pan. That’s it! Seriously.

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When you first put it in the pan it will look like this ^. Then you just leave it alone. Leave it, don’t touch it until the liquid has reduced significantly & is darkening (20+ minutes).

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When the chicken looks like this ^, flip over & cook for 5-10 more minutes so the other side of the chicken gets some of the good stuff on it. Don’t worry about your pan, the oil in the Italian dressing will pretty much guarantee that nothing sticks to the pan.

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Voila! The end result is delicious, sticky, slightly tangy, slightly sweet chicken tenders. Depending on your oven, pan, & temperature the caramelizing might take a little while – up to 40 minutes. Just be patient, the end result is well worth it.

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Burnt Chicken

AKA honey Italian chicken tenders
  • 2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips/chunks
  • 1/2 cup Zesty Italian Dressing
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • juice from 1 lime
  1. Place all 4 ingredients in a gallon ziplock bag. Marinate for at least an hour.
  2. Pour out the bag into a large skillet & cook over medium heat until liquid reduced & becomes thick & sticky, about 20-30 minutes.
  3. Turn each piece of chicken once & cook for an additional 5-10 minutes.
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Ricotta Honey Sesame Ice Cream

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Last year my husband (then fiance) & I went to Italy with his dad. It was an amazing trip! I had never been to Europe before. We stayed with family in Genoa for most of the trip. They were so warm & welcoming! I’m so glad God worked it out for me to have this new multicultural family on my husband’s side. Towards the end of our trip, we took sidetrip to Venice just the two of us.

Every day, whether in Genoa or Venice, we drank cappuccinos & ate gelato. Every day! It was glorious.

It was in Venice that I had the best gelato ever.

It’s a given that I have a major sweet tooth, but I’m also a chocoholic. I usually gravitate towards treats that have some chocolatey element. This gelato was a different story.

This gelato was ricotta honey sesame.

I think what drew me to this particular flavor was the fact that a couple of days earlier in Genoa, my husband’s aunt served us the most delicious ricotta I’ve ever had. It was so amazingly fresh and creamy. My mouth is watering just typing this. I need to go back to Italy.

So this gelato, ricotta honey sesame, caught my eye.

I am so glad it did! It was my favorite gelato of the entire trip, by far!

I have been dreaming of this flavor ever since.

As soon as we got our ice cream maker, which we bought with a gift card from an Italian friend of the family, I knew I had to attempt an American recreation of the sorely missed gelato.

I googled ricotta honey sesame ice cream to see what I could find, & I wasn’t disappointed by what I found! This Pure Wow recipe for ricotta honey ice cream looked promising. I adapted it for the ice cream maker & added the sesame element.

Ricotta Honey Sesame Ice Cream - Mrs. Dessert Monster

I mixed honey, ricotta, vanilla, cinnamon, & half of the heavy cream with my KitchenAid mixer until it was smooth.

Ricotta Honey Sesame Ice Cream - Mrs. Dessert Monster

While that was all mixing, I crushed up some sesame seed candies (tada!). I grew up eating these; my family calls them ajonjoli (which is the Spanish word for sesame). It seems to be an ‘ethnic’ thing – you can find these in the ethnic food aisle. My husband had never had these before, but my Jamaican coworker had. Island people are all very similar. These candies are really simple – honey & sesame. Perfect for this ice cream!

Once the ricotta honey mixture was smooth, I put it in the ice cream maker with the remaining heavy cream & let it church for about 20 minutes. I was expecting the ice cream to be kind of soft & need to set in the freezer, but I was wrong! I think the ricotta gave it that firm but creamy texture. With the ice cream maker still on, I poured in the crushed up sesame candies to mix them all in.

Ricotta Honey Sesame Ice Cream - Mrs. Dessert Monster

The results were spectacular.

Ricotta Honey Sesame Ice Cream - Mrs. Dessert Monster

Ricotta Honey Sesame Ice Cream - Mrs. Dessert Monster

It’s not quite the exquisite gelato I had in Venice, but it will do until I can go back to Italy for more!

Ricotta Honey Sesame Ice Cream

  • 2 cups heavy cream, divided
  • 1 cup ricotta cheese
  • ½ cup honey
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Pinch of cinnamon
  • 6-8 sesame seed candies, crushed.
  1. Using an electric mixer, mix the ricotta, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, & 1 cup of heavy cream until smooth, about 5 minutes.
  2. Pour mixture into ice cream maker & add remaining heavy cream. Churn for 20-25 minutes. Add crushed sesame seed candies before turning off ice cream maker.
  3. Serve & enjoy! If ice cream is too soft, place in freezer to set before serving.
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