Mini Chicken & Waffles With a Spicy Whiskey Cider Sauce

This is one of those recipes that you can totally whip up in fifteen minutes, unless you want to make it all from scratch. In that case, have at it and just use my recipe for the sauce. It is delicious and is perfect appetizer for a large gathering. I made this for book club and my friends were raving about it. I must say that these mini chicken and waffles served with a whiskey cider sauce may be one of my favorite recipe creations to date. 

This is a recipe that Sandra Lee would coin "semi homemade" I not only used mini eggo waffles, I was in a crazy hurry and whipped into the line at our local PDQ and ordered a dozen chicken tenders. So yeah, let's not pretend I slaved in the kitchen over this all day. However, what makes this particular version so tantalizing is the addition of my whiskey cider sauce. It will leave you craving more, this I pretty much guarantee. 

If you want to make your own, just grab some chicken tenderloins, cut them in half, season and bread them and fry them up. I did this the second time I made these and while they were just as good...I spent more time and made a large mess, so for me...Hi PDQ. You could also use any breaded chicken tenders from Tysons or any other brand and cook them ahead of time. 

With that said, once you have your chicken ready to go, you're set. 

2 dozen chicken tenders 
2 dozen mini chicken waffles
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup apple cider
1/4 cup bourbon
2 tbsp spicy brown sugar
1 tsp chili powder

Toast the waffle sheets and break apart into single pieces. With a toothpick, place chicken piece on top of waffle. Set aside. In a small sauce pan, place all remaining ingredients. Turn heat on high and whisk continuously, until sauce begins to bubble. Lower heat to medium and continue to whisk until it begins to thicken. Once it has thickened, using a spoon, ladle the sauce over top of the chicken and waffles. Serve immediately.

Now let your family fawn over you. It is well deserved. 

*notes~
I used a dozen chicken tenders and cut them in half. You could also use nuggets, but I preferred the tenders. The crispier the better. Keep in mind that each waffle piece has 4 mini waffles, so you should only need 6 waffle sheets to make 24.