Old Fashioned Homemade Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients

CHICKEN & BROTH
2-4 chicken breasts (bone-in with skin) or 1 whole 3 lb chicken
1 stick butter
2 pkg chicken bouillon (or 2 spoonfuls)

DUMPLINGS
1 stick butter, melted
3 large eggs
1/2 c milk, 2%
5 c all-purpose flour, divided
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 drops of yellow food coloring (or substitute a pinch of Turmeric)

Directions

1. CHICKEN AND BROTH: Place chicken breast or whole chicken with skin in a Dutch oven and cover with water.
2. Add a stick of butter and chicken bouillon. Cook over medium heat until chicken is tender, about 45 minutes for chicken breasts or 1 hr 15 minutes for the 3 lb chicken. Remove chicken from the broth and let chicken cool. Do not get rid of the broth. Remove skin and bones and discard. Shred chicken or chop into bite-size pieces. I don’t put mine back into the broth until after the dumplings have cooked.
3. FOR DUMPLINGS: In a small mixing bowl, add eggs to the melted butter. Whisk.
4. Take half of a shell and add milk to it six times… pour into the egg mixture.
5. Add in salt and pepper.
6. Add 3 cups of flour; mixing in the flour a little at a time.
7. You want the dough to be rather sticky.
8. Add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring to give it a rich looking blend.
9. Heap about 2 cups of flour onto a wooden board or counter.
10. Using a tablespoon, add about a cup of the mixture to the center of the flour.
11. Start incorporating the flour and the dough until you can roll it out and it doesn’t stick.
12. Roll very thin.
13. Using a pizza cutter, cut strips of the dough.
14. Add to the broth. Make sure it is boiling rapidly and that you have plenty of broth to keep your dumplings from scorching.
15. Turn down to low while you make the next batch. It’s easier to roll out using small batches than trying to roll it all out at one time.
16. After you have added the last dumpling, add the chicken back to the Dutch oven and stir very gently.
17. Remove from heat and place a lid on the pot.
18. Let sit for 10 minutes or so before serving.