Baked Chicken Fingers

Chicken fingers...what kid doesn't love them?  I think we've all had our "love" of chicken fingers at one time or another in our lives.  And so often they come to us processed and frozen.  I thought it was time to give it a go to make my own at home.  I did a little searching online and found lots of recipes, and the recipes all called for items that pretty much already had on hand.  Duh! Had I thought about it sooner, then maybe I would have figured it out sooner :-)  I based what I did on the recipe I found over at Smells Like Home .  Here is my version:

1 1/2 cups Panko
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Pepper (to taste)
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon Dijon or whole-grain mustard
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Cooking spray
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 425F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

In a shallow dish (I used a pie plate), mix together the flour, garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the egg whites, water, mustard and thyme.

Put the panko into a second shallow dish.

Line up your dishes: 1) Flour mixture, 2) Egg mixture, 3) Panko 4) Cooking sheet.  Working in order, piece by peice (or whatever methods works for you), dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, dip in the egg mixture, coat in the panko, put on the cooking sheet.  Repeat the process until all the chicken is done.  Spray the coated chicken (lightly) with cooking spray.

Bake for 15 minutes, remove the cooking sheet, flip the chicken fingers, and cook for another 10 minutes (or until the chicken is cooked through).

VERDICT:
These were a huge hit, as expected.  And much easier to make than I thought!  Yay!  I did cut the pieces of chicken a little too big for my first try, so next time I will make smaller pieces.  But these were well received by my boys (young and old!). Woohoo!

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