Cream of Chicken Soup with Cheddar and Herb Dumplings

When I was growing up, my mother always made chicken soup from scratch. She'd serve it either with noodles or matzo balls and the boiled chicken would be shredded and used to make sandwiches. It was good but if I wanted any other kind of soup, it came out of a can, and my favorite was cream of chicken. I didn't want any visible herbs or chicken pieces in it, either, and would fish those out with a spoon. No, my picky child's palate wanted that smooth, velvety texture. As an adult, I don't mind the additions but the canned variety of the soup has lost its appeal and I haven't had it in a long time.

Recently, though, I saw easy homemade cream of chicken soup recipes on both The Cooking Actress blog and Pinch of Yum. Could this soup really be that simple to make? The answer, it would seem, is yes although the flavor is a bit different from the canned soups of my childhood. But it's still quite delicious and I made it pretty lean as well. I added lots of fresh dill, which is one of my favorite herbs, and some over-the-top delicious dumplings. And now I have a homemade, grown up version of my longtime favorite soup. Enjoy!



Ingredients
(Adapted from The Cooking Actress and Pinch of Yum)

Soup:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
32 oz. Chicken stock
1 Cup milk (I used low fat)
1/2 Teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder
Pepper to taste

Dumplings:
2 Cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
1/4 Teaspoon pepper
2 Eggs
1 Cup buttermilk
1/4 Cup fresh chives, chopped
1/2 Cup cheddar cheese, shredded

To make the soup, melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Add the flour and whisk for a few minutes until all the flour granules are coated. Slowly add the chicken stock while whisking so that the flour pieces are broken down. Add the milk, dill and seasonings. Lower the heat to medium and cook for approximately 30 minutes until the soup thickens.

To make the dumplings, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, chives and cheese. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just until combined. Using a tablespoon or 1 oz. scoop, drop the biscuits into boiling water, lower the heat to medium and cook for approximately 20 minutes until the dumplings are puffed up and firm. Note that many people like to cook their dumplings in the actual soup so that the dumplings pick up the soup flavor. I find, however, that it makes the soup cloudy and I prefer to cook them separately. An option, though, is to use chicken stock instead of water to cook the dumplings. Makes approximately 16 dumplings.