Carl's Jr. Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich

We'll use elements of the Carl's Jr. Bacon Swiss Crispy Chicken Sandwich clone recipe to whip up oneof the other Carl's Jr. crispy chicken sandwiches, because I always say you can never have too much crispy chicken. This fried chicken breast sandwich includes lettuce and tomato, and is slathered with a clone of Carl'stasty ranch dressing. Use the recipes together and you can easily serve up two different sandwich clones for different tastes, with little extra effort. And you diners will be so impressed.

Recipe for Ranch Dressing

1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 tablespoon buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon parsley

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

dash dill weed

dash garlic powder

dash ground black pepper

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
6 to 8 cups vegetable shortening

1 egg

1 cup water

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

4 chicken breast fillets

4 sesame seed hamburger buns

4 lettuce leaves

4 tomato slices

1. Preheat 6 to 8 cups of shortening in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. If you don't have a deep fryer, you can also pan fry using a large frying pan, and just a couple cups of shortening.

2. To prepare the ranch dressing, combine all of the ingredients except the water and gelatin in small bowl. Mix the water with the gelatin in a small cup until all of the gelatin is dissolved. Add this gelatin solution to the other ingredients and stir. Cover and chill the dressing until it's needed.

3. Beat the egg and then combine with 1 cup of water in a small, shallow bowl. Stir.

4. Combine the flour, salt, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder in another shallow bowl.

5. Pound each of the breast fillets with a mallet until about 1/4-inch thick. Trim each breast fillet until it is round.

6. Working with one fillet at a time, first coat each fillet with the flour, then dredge it in the egg and water mixture. Coat the chicken once again in the flour and set it aside until all of the fillets have been coated.

7. Fry the chicken fillets for 8 to 12 minutes or until light brown and crispy.

8. As chicken is frying, prepare each sandwich by grilling the face of the hamburger buns on a hot skillet over medium heat. Spread about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the ranch dressing on the face of the top and bottom buns.

9. On the bottom bun, stack a leaf of lettuce and a tomato slice.

10. When the chicken is done frying, remove the fillets from the fryer and drain on paper towels or a rack for a couple minutes.

11. Stack one fillet on the bottom of the sandwich (on top of the tomato), then top it off with the top bun. Repeat the stacking process for each of the sandwiches.

Makes 4 sandwiches.