Recipe: Homemade Calzones

Calzones are one of my favorite treats. Cheese, bread, tomatoes... what's not to love, right?!

So when we're feeling like those ingredients but wanting something different than a pizza, this is the recipe I make. It's quick, it's easy, and it's de-lish. Everything I look for in a good meal.

This recipe is fun to play with too- add in spinach, broccoli, ham, pineapple... whatever your favorite pizza/calzone toppings are. Outside of burning the crust, I feel like pizza is a fail-proof meal, so be adventurous!

Ingredients:

1 package Pillsbury pizza crust, thin crust
30 pepperoni slices

1 large sweet onion, julienne

2 cloves garlic, minced

10oz package grape tomatoes, halved

2T butter

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 package fresh mozzarella pearls (usually in the gourmet cheese section- looks like this)
Kosher Salt

Marinara sauce for dipping (homemade or your favorite jar)

Optional: 1T butter melted with 2 cloves garlic

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 and spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Sauté onion and tomatoes in butter for 7-10 minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently. I like to cover the pan with a lid while sautéing to help the tomatoes cook faster. Remove lid and add garlic for the last minute of sautéing, stirring continually so the garlic doesn't burn.

Spread pizza crust out on baking sheet.

Spread ricotta cheese  down the center of the crust.

Add sautéed ingredients and mozzarella pearls. Sprinkle with salt.

Fold dough over the center or braid dough as shown in the pictures below (directions for braid found here)

Optional, use a baster to brush pizza crust with melted butter/garlic mixture

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until crust is golden brown. (We prefer less-cooked dough so ours is on the lighter side!)