BREADED CHICKEN BREAST RECIPE (made with cocoa nibs or chocolate chips)

2 Whole boneless chicken breasts Вј Cup cocoa nibs ground fine 2/3 Cup plain bread crumbs 1 ВЅ Teaspoon sugar Вј Teaspoon red pepper flakes ВЅ Teaspoon sage ВЅ Teaspoon garlic powder ВЅ Teaspoon salt 3 Tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

Oil a baking pan or baking dish with a little olive oil.

Each whole chicken breast makes two filets. Pound the breast out just to make overall even. Do not make them thin.

In a blender, blend cocoa nibs until fine. Add bread crumbs, pepper flakes, sage, garlic and salt. Blend another minute to mix. Dump mixture into a small bowl and scrape all from bottom of the blender; stir to mix well. Add melted butter and blend in. Divide mixture in half and put half in another bowl.

Lay chicken breasts out on a board. Take the mixture in one of the bowls and divide evenly over the four chicken filets. Pat it into the chicken. Carefully flip each chicken fillet over onto the oiled baking pan, having the crust side down on the pan. With the second bowl of crumb mixture, divide evenly on top of the four chicken fillets. Spread out evenly and pat into the chicken.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and turn each chicken breast over. Return to the oven for 15 minutes longer or until chicken is done.

Since learning truly what are chocolate chips or (what are cocoa nibs) I decided to try them in my coconut oatmeal cookie recipe and in making eggless brownies. I really do like them in dessert recipes; maybe it is a mental thing. I chopped the nibs more coarsely for the desserts. In all my recipes, my goal was to get the taste and texture of the nibs. Being a seed, they are not as crunchy as nuts but do add much texture which chocolate chips do not. They blend quite well in dessert recipes because the recipe already has the sugar which counteracts the bitterness of the nibs.

As I learned what are chocolate chips and what are cocoa nibs, you could actually use both in one recipe and get to different flavors; the creamy chocolate and the crunchy nut like flavors. Some products of the cocoa nibs are chocolate liqueur and cocoa powder. In this recipe for eggless brownies I used Hershey’s cocoa powder for a basic chocolate flavor, then gave it extra chocolate “punch” with “Godiva” chocolate liqueur and then I added crunch with the cocoa nibs.