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Sunday, November 16, 2008

Mini Calzones

Let me start off with saying I'm really proud of myself for making these. They are pretty easy to make and if you use store bought pizza dough all you need to do is pick your favorite flavors you want inside cut, fold and bake.


I brought these to Ben's for the usual Sunday night football snacks. I made them miniature so that they were easy to eat while watching the game and each one is about one slice of pizza, for quantity control. I looked up recipes on Cooking Light and followed the directions except used flavors that I knew these boys would love.

Mini Calzones

3 packages refrigerated pizza dough

Feta & Spinach Stuffing
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
3/4 cup feta
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp oregano



Pizza Stuffing

1 cup cheese (pizza blend)
1/3 cup pizza sauce
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper


Herb-Parmesan Stuffing
1 cup greyer cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme


First you want to mix your stuffing in bowls so that it is ready to go after you have prepared your pizza dough. Please note that if you do want to create your own stuffing they should more solid than liquid, that is why in my pizza stuffing there is a lot more cheese than sauce, this is because when they cook and the cheese melts you do not want all of your stuffing leaking out the tops or the sides.


Roll out your pizza dough. Cut into 4 1/2 inch rounds (I used a small bowl.) Place your stuffing on one half of the circle. Fold over and crimp the edges. Make sure that the edges are really stuck together or else they will pull apart in the oven while baking.


Place on a baking sheet that you have greased (I used Pam.) They will only get about an inch bigger so they can be relatively close together. With a sharp knife cut a small hole in the top of the calzones so they can breath while baking. Spray tops with Pam, so that they turn golden brown. Place in a 425 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes. They should be golden before removing from the oven. With three packages of pizza dough I made 18 mini calzones, there are 6 servings in each pizza dough that I bought, which will make each calzone about 200 calories (depending on your stuffing) and each is equivalent to a slice of pizza so make as many as you need. You could even make them and freeze until you want to serve them.


They look a lot more impressive relatively than how much work they actually are. I loved making these, coming up with the flavors and putting everything together. Everyone loved these. I set some aside for my dad for his dinner and then brought the rest over to Ben's for football snacks. Ben made me pull out a few so that he could have them for lunch the next day before the boys got at them. You can eat them cold or reheat them in the microwave or oven. They are perfect for any meal (you could even put together a bacon and eggs stuffing and have a breakfast calzone!)


This is a really creative and easy meal or snack that you can redo over and over again depending what you have in the refrigerator, or what you are craving for the stuffing. This would be a great way to also get your kids in the kitchen helping with the flavors and folding the dough.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Umm. So jealous. I want some! Just wait til I get back home -- I'm totally making those.

Jaime said...

those look great! love the fillings you chose

Kristen said...

Oh, wow. My mouth is watering just looking at these! Yummy!

Lisa Johnson said...

Wow! You're really back cooking and baking like crazy. Very impressive! These look great. ; )