We love pizza in our home and I try to make it quite it often. Sometimes I just want to make something simple instead of a whole pie. These vegetarian pizza poppers fit the bill perfectly. Cheese Pizza Pops are bite sized pizza or maybe you can call them mini size cheese calzones. Frozen ones are quite popular here in the US, especially Annie’s pizza poppers. But, there is absolutely no need to buy pizza pockets because they are very easy to make at home. You can actually customize the fillings and make with these with your favorite pizza toppings. These are perfect after school snack for the kids and also great as appetizers at parties. They can be made ahead of time and freeze beautifully.
Ingredients
Most of the ingredients needed for this recipe are pantry and refrigerator staples. Here is what you need: Pizza dough - either store bought or homemade would work. I have included an easy recipe to make your own dough. Here’s what you need to make it: flour, instant yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil and water. I use a combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. But feel free to make it entirely with all purpose flour. Tomato sauce - again feel free to use this homemade 3 ingredient marinara sauce or store bought pizza sauce. Cheese - grated mozzarella or cheddar or any good melting cheese would work here.
Instructions
Start by making the pizza dough. Combine flour, yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water in a mixing bowl. Mix and knead to make a smooth, pliable dough. Takes about 10 minutes by hand and 7~8 minutes on a stand mixer. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and set aside for about 1½~2 hours. In the meantime, make the pizza filling - combine pizza sauce and grated cheese, mix well and set aside. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently deflate the dough and divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ¼" thick rectangle that is 4" wide and 14~16" long. Down one side of the dough, place about 1tsp of the filling about 1" apart. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch it close. Cut the dough around the filling and pinch all the seams shut. Repeat with the remaining dough. Place the pizza pops on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Bake for 8~10 minutes or until the pizza pops are golden and baked. Remove from the oven and serve hot with more sauce for dipping. Enjoy!!
Tips
To make these for a crowd, double or triple the quantities to make pizza dough. Some delicious filling ideas:steamed broccoli, choppedchopped spinachcrumbled vegetarian sausagelightly sauteed onions, peppersMake sure not to overfill the pizza pockets. Less is more in this case.Store leftover baked pizza pops in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Warm in the microwave before serving.To make these ahead of time, freeze unbaked poppers in a ziploc bag for upto 3 months.
More kid friendly recipes to try
Cheese pizza stuffed sandwichPizza dough with semolinaNo yeast thin crispy pizza crustLahmacunTurkish PideDetroit style cheese pizza
