Baked (Cheez It) Chicken

Several weeks ago, over at Sugar & Spice in the Land of Balls & Sticks, Laxsupermom posted a recipe for Oven-Baked Crispy Fried Chicken.  She had her own healthy version, using gluten-free spicy falafel chips over Ranch dressing for the coating.  In the post, she mentioned having previously made this recipe with crumbled Cheez Its.  I am not a fan, usually, of Ranch dressing, nor do I often buy Cheez Its, but I couldn't get this recipe out of my mind.  It sounded so good!                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
I finally gathered the ingredients and came up with our own healthy version.  Truthfully, I hadn't really planned to 'healthify' it, but the nutrition aspect did bother me a bit.  The fear I'd run out of the specific ingredients (before coating the 10 pounds of chicken I had) gave me the opportunity to work on that a bit.                                                                                                                                                             

Baked Cheez It Chicken

Ingredients I used:
Chicken pieces, patted dry
1 box Cheddar Jack Cheez Its
1 box Hot & Spicy Cheez Its
1 package Wasa Multi Grain crackers
1 large bottle Ranch dressing
1 quart plain yogurt
Pam (of course!)                                                                                                                                                
Preheat the oven to 375.                                                                                                                                

Using the food processor to crumb the crackers in a mixture of equal parts of all 3 types of crackers, then dump in a medium bowl.                                                                                                                              
In a separate bowl mixed equal parts of yogurt and Ranch dressing. (Add a bit of milk if too thick. It should be like pourable salad dressing, or thin batter.)                                                                                                                                                              

Laxsupermom shook her chicken in the dressing, then in crumbs in separate ZipLoc bags, but I just dipped mine in the open bowls.  First into the yogurt/dressing mixture, scraping off the chicken with my fingers, as necessary, to leave a thin coating before dredging in the cracker crumbs.                                                                                            
Place, skin side up, separated so not touching, on foiled-lined shallow baking pans that have been sprayed with Pam or spritzed with an oil of your choice.  Spritz the tops of the chicken with the oil or Pam.  Bake for 45 minutes.                                                                                                             

All in all, a big success with the family.  But there are definitely changes I will make next time:                                                                                                                                                       
 - Instead of mixing the types of Cheez Its, I will use all Hot & Spicy or all Pepper Jack flavored Cheez Its. I will also season the sauce a bit, since I cut the flavor by adding yogurt.  I hadn't tried the Hot & Spicy Cheez Its before, and was afraid of making it too spicy for Prince CuddleBunny.  But if anything, this first try was a little bland.                                                                                                                        
 - I also plan to try this recipe with skinless chicken, as ours was too fatty.