Pecan-Crusted Baked Chicken

Soaking the chicken in buttermilk keeps the meat moist, and the spiced pecans provide added crunch.  This is a good way to dress up everyday chicken for dinner, and creates nice leftovers for lunch.
---Barbara

Pecan-crusted Baked Chicken

Serves 4

Spiced Pecans:
2 cups pecans
sea salt
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
olive oil or butter spray

Buttermilk Soaked Chicken:
8 boneless chicken tenders or 4 boneless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
buttermilk, about 2 cups

Batter Dip:
1 egg, whisked well
salt and pepper
1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard

Line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray it lightly with oil.  Then, place the pecans in a single layer. Spray them with oil.  Sprinkle them generously with sea salt.  Then, sprinkle them with cinnamon, and cayenne.  Use more than you might think.

Toast them until golden brown, stirring midway through, about 4 minutes if you are using a toaster oven.  In a conventional oven, it might take longer.  Watch them carefully so that they don't burn.

Let them cool completely.

In a small, heavy duty plastic bag, place the pecans, then use a heavy object, like a rolling pin to crush the pecans, until they are the size of coarse bread crumbs.  Adjust the contents of the bag so that you crush all of the pecans evenly.

This mixture smells great!  Set aside until you will be baking the chicken.

In a glass container, add the chicken (mine was frozen), season it with salt on both sides, then cover with buttermilk, and add a few grinds of pepper on top.  Cover and refrigerate, overnight preferably or at least 6 hours, turning the chicken over a few times.  (Use a spoon or a fork, not your fingers to do this.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

45 minutes to an hour before serving dinner, set up a battering station.  In a suitable dipping bowl or plate, combine the egg, mustard, salt and pepper.  In another bowl, add the pecans.

Place a non-stick cooking rack over a baking sheet.  If you don't have a non-stick rack, then spray it with oil.

Pull a piece of chicken from the buttermilk, and drain well, then add it to the egg mixture and lift it up and let it drain, then add it to the pecans, coat one side, then flip and coat the other side.  Then, place it carefully on the rack over the baking sheet.

Do this for all of the chicken pieces.  If you run out of egg mixture you can just coat the chicken with the pecans. 

If you run out of pecans like I did (because I was making a double batch), then I quickly crushed up some Chex cereal, spiced it with garlic powder and sea salt, and continued.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  The chicken will become firm to the touch and the pecans will brown.