As I've stated more than once and will probably state a few more times, we've moved and my schedule is changing. So the background of these pictures will not look like my previous kitchen witch posts because I'm working out of a new kitchen, and savory items are moving to Thursdays while the desserts will be moving to Sundays.
These are one of my favorite dual appetizer/meal items to make. They're easy and cheap, and can be made in bulk on my high spoon days for fast food on my low spoon days because they freeze well. Yours will probably also look better than mine, because as you'll see the oven in our new place is borked, but still XD
You'll Need The Following;
- 2 cans crescent rolls
- 1 block mozzarella cheese
- 1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 bag of pepperoni
- 1/4 cup cooking oil of choice
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Optional - other cheeses, toppings, herbs/spices to taste and dipping sauce
I usually love making these with bacon bits, crumbled sausage and olives but my roommate is a simple man and likes his pizza with pepperoni so I just went with that. I also added a bit of parsley and paprika down the line, but I'll explain more of that in the step where I add them. And, of course, instead of marinara for dipping we prefer ranch but anything you like on pizza is fair game here :D
So the first step, as always, is to preheat your oven. Go for 450 degrees Fahrenheit on this one.
Next step, get your crescent rolls filled with that block mozzarella cheese. Now with 8 rolls in a can and 2 cans making 16 rolls but a muffin pan only having 12 slots that obviously doesn't add up. And these should be done in a muffin pan or else you're going to end up with cheese and pepperoni everywhere when you bake them. Thankfully this can be remedied by taking away 4 of the rolls, making a total of 12, and dividing those 4 into 3 pieces then adding the pieces to the whole rolls. You don't need them to keep their crescent shape, you just need the dough!
Divide your mozzarella cheese into 12 equal pieces as well, then pound out your dough and wrap it around the bits of mozzarella. Keep in mind which side you crimped the dough around to seal in the cheese, this side is 'up' as shown in the picture.
Take your oil, butter and optional herbs and spices (I used parsley and paprika here) and combine them in a sauce pan. Heat just until the point the butter melts as shown.
The point of heating the mixture only until the butter melted was to avoid burning your hands in this next step.
Take your cheese stuffed rolls and give them a good roll in the mixture with your fingers. If you've got cooking tongs of some kind you can use those too, but I find my fingers are better at getting an even coating.
Once you've done that, put them right into the muffin tin. You won't need to spray it - just add about 1 teaspoon of the excess oil over top and it'll grease the pan up just fine.
Top generously with your shredded cheese and toppings and toss in the oven for 12 minutes.
As I mentioned at the top our oven is borked. I trusted the oven in our new apartment would work as it was supposed to, but it's clearly overheating just like the oven that was in our last place when we first moved in so we need to get that fixed. These are a slight bit burnt, though still edible, and the cheese oozed out a lot more than it should. But if your oven is working properly you shouldn't have this problem.
After that, serve and enjoy. I've never had a problem getting them out of the pan with no additional oil and when they're cooked properly they are super tasty and cheesy and amazing <3
Banner was made by me in Photoshop. All other pictures here were taken by me specifically for this post. Outside links are copyright their respective places. I have been a home cook for over a decade, and any questions or comments about this recipe are encouraged!
If you like this content resteems, upvotes and comments are much appreciated <3