Equipment Needed
- Large mixing bowl
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
- Fork or hand mixer
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Pastry brush (for butter)
Step-by-Step Instructions
First, preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C) and line your baking sheet with parchment paper. This prevents any cheesy leaks from sticking and makes cleanup a breeze. Now, let’s make the filling. In your large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and the entire packet of dry ranch seasoning. Use a fork or hand mixer on low to beat them together until completely smooth and creamy. This is your flavor base. I tried just stirring it once, and I ended up with little pockets of unmixed seasoning that were too salty. Taking a minute to beat it ensures every bite is perfectly seasoned.
Next, add the two cups of shredded chicken, one cup of shredded cheddar cheese, and the chopped green onions to the bowl. Use a sturdy spatula or your hands to mix everything together thoroughly. You want every strand of chicken coated in the cheesy, ranch-y mixture. The filling will be thick, sticky, and incredibly fragrant. At this point, I always do a taste test (with a clean spoon, of course!) and adjust—sometimes I add a crack of black pepper. Now, using your hands, scoop and roll the mixture into about 16 equal-sized balls, roughly the size of a ping pong ball. Place them on a plate. Chilling these balls in the freezer for 10-15 minutes makes them much easier to handle when wrapping. I skipped this step the first time, and the warm filling made the dough incredibly hard to work with.
Open your cans of crescent dough and carefully unroll the sheets. If your dough is the kind with perforated triangles, you’ll need to press the perforations together to seal them and create solid rectangles of dough. Then, cut each rectangle into four smaller squares. Place one chilled chicken filling ball in the center of each square. Now, gather the edges of the dough at the top and pinch them tightly to seal, enclosing the ball completely. It should look like a little dough purse. Pinch well! Any tiny opening will cause the cheese to ooze out dramatically during baking. Place each sealed bomb seam-side down on your prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between them so they have room to puff up.(See the next page below to continue…)