Charleston Cheese Stuffed Chicken

As I've written before, I LOVE cookbooks. One of my favorite things to do when I travel is to find a locally written cookbook. I especially love Junior League and Church cookbooks with recipes from local families. I have these types of cookbooks from Apalachicola to West Virginia to Maine. This recipe is from the cookbook Music, Menus and Magnolia's by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League.




I bought this cookbook over 15 years ago on a Bayless family vacation, and when I say Bayless family vacation, I mean the whole Bayless family. When my son Brandon was young we took a summer vacation every year with my husband's parents and his brother. On this vacation we spent a week renting cabins outside of Gatlinburg and stopped for a couple of days in Charleston on the way home. I have wonderful memories of this trip because Brandon was at the truly delightful age of about 14 and entertained us thoroughly the entire trip, including his imitation of the ribbon dance routines we watched during the summer Olympics. Oh yes, today he will try to deny it, but it is the stuff of legends in our family!

I spent the trip back from Charleston reading this cookbook. Once I found this recipe, I couldn't wait to get home to try it. In fact, we had it the very night we arrived home. It is simple and delicious!

Begin this recipe by pounding out your chicken breasts very thin. Then make your cream cheese mixture which includes green onion and tarragon. Dip the chicken breast in lemon juice and put the cream cheese mixture in the middle.

Next wrap the chicken breast around the  cream cheese mixture. Wrap with 2-3 slices of bacon and secure with toothpicks. Bake at 350 degrees.











Ingredients
(serves 6)
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup green onions
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 - 18 slices bacon
toothpicks

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Flatten chicken pieces by pounding between plastic wrap. Dip in lemon juice. Combine cream cheese, onions, tarragon and salt. Place 3-4 tablespoons of this mixture on each piece of chicken. Roll chicken around cream cheese mixture and wrap with slices of bacon. Secure with a toothpick. Place in a shallow 9x12-inch buttered baking dish and bake, uncovered for about 30 - 40 minutes. Then turn the broiler on high for about 5 minutes to crisp up the bacon.