Recipe: Mini Italian Calzones

This recipe for Mini Italian Calzones is extremely easy and definitely a crowd pleaser… watching the big game? Have a lot of manly men to feed? …. why not make calzones… you can prepare them ahead and pop them in the oven about 30 minutes before you want to serve them…. they’re filling … and best of all… pretty inexpensive to make.

You can make a Stromboli to go with it…. maybe an Antipasto Salad…. you can feed a bunch of people for about $20… now you can’t beat that!

The reason I suggested making a Stromboli to go with it… all you have to do is make up an extra pizza dough batch for the Stromboli…. a full recipe of my pizza dough will make two Strombolis … and a full recipe of the pizza dough will make about 20 mini calzones…. depending on how big you make them…. in fact you don’t have to make them minis… make them bigger and you have a hearty “sandwich”…. vary the size…. it’s up to you.

TIPS:

Plan ahead…. I like to make my Italian meatballs for dinner… I save about 6 meatballs and freeze them…. then when I want to make meaty calzones or need a meat topping for pizza… all I have to do is defrost them.

You can use a variety of fillings…. or just pick one…. be creative… you can fill these with just about anything…. I am posting three fillings… cheese, spinach and cheese, and meatball and cheese.

When using the cheese filling… the traditional Italian Calzone doesn’t have tomato sauce in it…. serve it along side it…. I use pizza sauce.

You can use commercially made pizza dough available in the dairy section of the grocery store or make your own…. if you have a mixer with a dough hook… making the dough is a snap!

I previously posted a pizza dough recipe with instructions… if you are making it …see that post.

I also previously posted my meatball recipe…. you can use that recipe for the meat filling or one of your own.

Enjoy!



Recipe: Mini Italian Calzones

All you need:

Commercially made pizza dough or homemade
Fillings
1 egg, beaten for egg wash
1 jar of pizza sauce

Cheese Filling:

½ container (15 ounce) part skim ricotta cheese
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten

Spinach and Cheese Filling:

½ container (15 ounce) part skim ricotta cheese
¾ cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten

Meatball and Cheese Filling:

3-4 Italian meatballs, mashed
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

All you have to do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

If you are making the pizza dough…. while the dough is rising, make the fillings.

Simply combine the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

When dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a floured board.

The dough will be sticky, you will have to knead it with a small amount of flour (about 2 tablespoons).

Knead it gently with your hands to incorporate a bit of the flour.

Cut the dough in half with a knife…. it will be easier to work with the dough in two batches.

Roll the dough out until it’s thin.

I use my biscuit cutter to cut a circle.

The dough will still be too thick… so roll the cut circle out until it’s very thin.

TIP: It’s difficult to get a perfect circle by rolling the cut circle…. So pick it up with your hands and gently pull it into shape…. Carefully…. Don’t tear the dough. The dough will easily shape.




If you are making mini calzones you will want a about a 4 inch circle.

Drop about a teaspoon and a half of filling in the middle.






Fold the dough over the filling and press the edges together…make sure you have sealed the calzone.

Place the calzone on the parchment paper.

Repeat until you have filled the baking sheet…. I bake about 9-12 at a time.

Let the calzones rest for about 15 minutes.

Brush the calzones with the egg wash.

Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

If any filling leaks out…. take a sharp knife and simply trim the leakage off… it will cut easily off.

Serve warm with pizza sauce.