Chicken Cheese Braid

The husband and I went to a small gathering last weekend. I was assigned an app and was really struggling with what to make. (A couple of notes: 1. I'm doing WW, so I wanted to make something that was not only yummy, but wouldn't totally put me over in points; and 2. My husband really doesn't eat dips, especially anything creamy.) I spent some time online, trying to come up with an idea and then it hit me - an easy, yummy, and filling snack: a chicken cheese braid.

The finished product to entice you to keep reading! (I made two, but the instructions below are for written for one.)

This is fairly straight forward, so I'll just give most of the instructions in the captions.

Ingredients:

1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded

1 can chiles (mild or hot to taste)

6 to 8 ounces (really use as little or as much as you’d like) shredded cheddar cheese (I used 50% reduced from Cabot, but use whatever you like)

1 cup salsa

1 can crescent rolls (I used Wegmans light rolls, but you can use whatever kind)

1 egg, beaten with a splash of water for an egg wash

Preheat oven to 375 F.

I just poached my chicken with some garlic and a bay leaf. You can cook it however you'd like, though, and don't need to worry about the bay leaf/anything else if you don't want to. Then, I started to shred!

Shredded chicken!

Chicken, with chiles and salsa, being drained

***I added the salsa and chiles to the chicken and then drained the liquid out. Draining is really important so the chicken isn't too wet. Too much liquid is likely to make the crust quite soggy.***

Roll out the crescent rolls so they're in one large sheet. You can see here that it doesn't have to be perfect.

I forgot to take a pic of the dough alone, but you can see I made slits on both sides. Put the chicken mixture down the center and then cover with shredded cheese.

Bring the pieces of dough over so it resembles a braid. Then, brush the entire top with the egg wash.

I baked mine at 375 for about 20 minutes.

One more shot of the braids all done

I served mine with sour cream, but I think they'd be great with salsa or guac or queso. They were a huge hit and disappeared really quickly. They're so versatile and can be filled with so many things. I can't wait to make them again!