Buttermilk "Oven Fried" Chicken aka Cornflake Crust Baked Chicken

I was looking over a recipe book Carolyn brought in when we were preparing for the Library's Taste and Tell II program when I ran across this recipe from The Skinnytaste Cookbook. One of the titles caught my eye and I immediately thought about my Grandmother Gaudette.

Growing up in Connecticut, I remember a trip to the lake where my Great-Uncle Arthur and Great-Aunt Betty had a cabin. Me, my siblings and all my Holmes cousins always had a lot of fun playing together. This is where I first learned about an "outhouse." Who knew such a thing existed?

Grandma Gaudette would have a cooler full of her corn flake crust chicken legs packed. There was nothing better than sitting on a sandy beach, outside, eating cold chicken legs and whatever sides. As an adult, I can't imagine eating food anywhere near sand. Yeeesh!

When I inherited her recipe file after she left this world for her heavenly home; I was hoping I 'd find her recipe. I was sadly disappointed as it wasn't in there. Since then, I've repeated this story countless times so you can imagine how happy I was to find this recipe. I tweaked the spices to reflect what I had in my pantry and it was quite tasty. I didn't remove the skin as the original recipe recommended, so I'll leave that up to you. I did fix a double recipe but I have this broke down for a "normal" serving.

CHICKEN INGREDIENTS:

8 chicken legs

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp smoky paprika

½ tsp poultry seasoning

½ tsp garlic salt with parsley

⅛ tsp black pepper

1 cup buttermilk

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

cooking spray

The recipe called for the chicken to soak in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours or overnight. I had around 2 hours. Rinse and season the chicken with the salt, paprika, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, and black pepper. Pour the buttermilk and lemon juice over the chicken and coat well. I stirred this concoction several times.

COATING INGREDIENTS:

• ⅔ cup panko bread crumbs
• ½ cup crushed corn flake crumbs
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1½ teaspoons sea salt
• 1½ teaspoons smoky paprika
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic salt with parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet, mix coating ingredients

Prepare a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and a rack sprayed with cooking oil.

Time to get rolling!

Roll chicken legs until they are nicely coated.

Place on rack and lightly spray with cooking spray.

Cook for 40-45 minutes. My oven is a little slow, so I went with 45 minutes.

170 degrees. Whoops! 40 minutes minutes would have probably been fine. However, that extra 5 degrees didn't hurt them one bit. The crust was crunchy and the meat was moist and tender.

We enjoyed this plate of chicken with Grandma's Cucumbers, mashed potatoes and corn.