The gingerbread house. Every year the best part of decorating/the bane of my existence. Have you ever made one? I am not so crafty that I bake it from scratch, but I do add my own embellishments to the premade kit; Chex mix or pretzels for roof tiles, candy corn and chocolate for the bits and pieces, powdered sugar or coconut for snow. At the end of the day, I love the extra fun touch that it adds to my holiday decor, but as far as building it goes…after about 20 minutes of glee, I find myself sweaty and annoyed for the remaining 2+ hours of construction, cursing my foolishness for yet again falling under the lure of gingerbread house building. Admittedly all bad thoughts immediately evaporate as I proudly admire my creation, and all traumatic memories of house-building are long forgotten as I sit to build the next year.
But, not this year. I mentioned that this season totally got away from me, and it looks like no house is happening this year. As a consolation, and to feel one in some way with the gingerbread, I decided to remake hasenpfeffer that I had made before in a prettier way, substituting chicken dark parts for rabbit and making the whole thing a heck of a lot prettier.
This one I named simply chicken gingersnap stew because to call it hasenpfeffer would be inaccurate since that technically means hare stew, and we do try to be accurate here at the HB.
Recipe notes:
The whole thing comes together rather nicely and the meat falls off the bones. I’d advise against using chicken breast for this because I wager it’d come out un-nice and dry.
I saw gluten-free gingersnaps galore. If that’s your thing, this should be in your wheelhouse.
I imagine this would work in a slow cooker. Set the timer for four hours on high and see how everything tests.
Written late into the night, rocking out to the N’SYNC Christmas album. You know you like it.
Chicken Gingersnap Stew
December 15, 2015
: 4
: 10 min
: 2 hr
: 2 hr 15 min
: Easy
This chicken gingersnap stew is inspired by the Dutch rabbit stew, hasenpfeffer, this mixes it up with chicken for a more supermarket friendly find.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thigh, bone-in, skin-on
- 4 chicken legs, bone-in, skin on
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
- 2 large carrots, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 4 medium size Yukon gold potatoes, chopped into 2" chunks
- 1 TB unsalted butter
- 1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 TB tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 cups chicken stock, low sodium or homemade
- 1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed gingersnap cookies (7-oz bag)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, to serve
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 375F.
- Step 2 Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. To a large Dutch oven (or similar), melt the butter and brown the chicken, about 3 minutes per side. Once cooked, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Step 3 Back to the Dutch oven, add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add in the tomato paste, wine and stock and bring to a boil.
- Step 4 Add in the potatoes, gingersnaps and chicken. Cover and place in the oven for about 1 hour, 15 minutes to 1 hour, 30 minutes until the chicken is fork tender and the potatoes are cooked and soft. Give it all a good stir.
- Step 5 Mix in the parsley and serve hot.
yuuuum! Gingerbread cookies, loaf, creamer, coffee, my absolute favourite; I kind of love that it’s only available/made for a month a year.
Agree. I think if I had to smell it all year I’d be pretty grossed out.
Printing and can’t wait to make this!! Our g. houses actually turn out quite nice. I think it’s because I don’t know how to bake but the gingerbread for the homes are OK when rock-hard and that’s exactly the kind of cookies I make.
Well, major props to you for even making it on your own. I have never even considered attempting that!
This is so delicious and comforting. And the use of gingerbread cookies in a chicken stew is new to me, but I love how it turned out…so yum!
Thanks Angie! I hope you give it a try!
Really intriguing recipe, Chrissy! Couldn’t have imagined adding something like gingersnaps to a casserole, but you know, I can see how that would work.
Merry Christmas!
I really think you’ll love it, Helen. Merry Christmas to you as well!
I don’t see the ginger snaps in the directions. When do you add them?
Hi Peggy- Thanks for the catch and sorry about that- you add them with the potatoes and chicken- I’ve fixed the recipe, so let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for stopping by!