Rach Makes Star Shaped Chicken Nuggets

My very close friend is having a Beach BBQ Pool Party at her house. I always bring stuff for her so I asked her what she wanted me to bring. She knew I had made heart shaped chicken nuggets for munchkin's lunches. She sent me a picture of starfish s'mores (aren't they cute?) and asked if we could use the chicken nugget recipe to make them look like these. I thought "why not?!" If you want to make the Starfish S'Mores visit Hungry Happenings. I haven't tried them out yet but I am adding them to my list of things I need to try. They look amazing!

I had made the heart shaped chicken nuggets by following a post on Momables. It is a great website for ideas on what to send to lunch with your kid. Make the recipe as listed. I am also retyping it below because the way it is listed on this site, I always forget to separate the Parmesan cheese and paprika. I also find that I have a lot of waste with the breadcrumb mixture so I have scaled that part of the recipe down. This recipe is made with ground chicken which you can find in your local grocery store. You can also make your own if you prefer.

This recipe can be adapted for any shape or themed party. Think Mickey Mouse, Dino Tracks, Cars or any other shape you can think of you. You need a cookie cutter that is about 2 1/2 to 3". Smaller than this and the shape will be challenging to keep it all in one piece.

Mix up all the ingredients. Put down a piece of wax paper on your work space to help it from sticking to everything. I like to make these in advance and then freeze them. So prep a couple cookie sheets with wax paper on them to for freezing.

Next take about a tablespoon and put it in the middle of the cookie cutter. Then smoosh it down (I know very technical) to the corners of the cookie cutter so it looks like below. You can make them thinner if you want but I find that if they are about 1/2" thick it makes them easier to keep their shape. 

The hardest part is removing the raw meat from the cookie cutter without ruining the shape. 

You want to hold the cookie cutter with one hand and gently push the meat out from each corner. I tried to show you below how I did it. 

Once you have your cute shaped nuggets, coat it with your breadcrumbs mixture. I put my breadcrumb mixture in a small bowl and just put it in the bowl and give its little shake to coat the nugget. Then I flip the nugget over a couple times to make sure it is thoroughly coated.

Lay your coated nugget on the cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Space them out so they aren't touching and freeze the tray. I typically freeze it overnight. Then you can just pop them in a Ziploc bag or Rubbermaid to bake right before you want to serve them. 

What's great about these is they go straight from the freezer to your oven. Cook them 15-20. I like to flip them halfway so they get golden brown all over. Don't they just look so cute. Don't worry I cooked these three to properly taste test them. They taste as good as they look!

Shaped Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients:

Filling
1 lb ground chicken
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Coating

1tablespoon  grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

Tools:
Cookie Cutter
Wax Paper
Cookie Sheets

Directions:

1. Lay out wax paper in your work area and on your cookie sheets
2. Mix the filling ingredients together
3. Mix the coating ingredients together
4. Place about a tablespoon of filling in the cookie cutter 
5. Smooth the filling to the edges of the cookie cutter so it is completely filled
6. Delicately remove filling
7. Coat filling with breadcrumb mixture
8. Place on cookies sheets and freeze overnight
9. When ready to eat preheat oven to 375 degree 
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway 
11. Eat and enjoy!