NEXT UP...

A quick preview pick of the next recipe for the blog.

Cherry Cheesecake Cupcakes!!!

Until next time.

  -Trev.

A Canadian Classic.... Pizza Pops!!!! (half Salami Mushroom, half veggie)

Welcome my friends!

Today I am starting the blog once again.  Oh what a start it is...

I love Pizza Pops, but since moving to Germany haven't had one.  It has been so long that I completely forgot about them!  A few weeks ago my older sister mentioned making Pizza Pops for my nephews.  That was it, I couldn't go another 2 years without my favorite pockets of sauce, cheese and meat.  So I went online and found a recipe for "Homemade Pizza Pockets" over at http://pocketchangegourmet.com.  I changed the recipe a bit (slight changes to the dough and sauce).  If your kids are fans of Pizza Pops this is a great way to make some at home (one batch makes a baker's dozen) for the same cost as two boxes of Pizza Pops from the supermarket. The kids can also decide what ingredients they want inside.

Alright, enough chit-chat.  Let's get with cooking already!

Pizza Pops (makes 12-13)

   Ingredients (Dough)

• 3 3/4 cups flour (Mehl)
• 2 tsp sugar (Zucker)
• 1 1/4 tsp salt (Salz)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (granuliert Knoblauch)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder (granuliert Zwiebeln)
• 1 tsp baking baking powder (Backpulver)
• 1 pkg (1 1/2 tsp) dry yeast (Hefe)
• 1 1/3 cups warm water (warmes Wasser)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (Olivenöl)

   Ingredients (Sauce)

• 1 tsp butter (Butter)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (Knoblauchzehe, gehackt)
• 2 Tbsp concentrated tomato paste (Tomatenmark)
• 1 tsp dried basil (Basilikum)
• 1 tsp dried oregano (Oregano)
• 1 tsp dried thyme (Thymian)
• 1 tsp dried parsley (Petersilie)
• 1/4 tsp salt (Salz)
• 1/2 cup tomato juice (Tomatensaft)
• 1/2 cup water (Wasser)

   Ingredients (Toppings)

• 1 pkg shredded mozzarella (Mozzarellastreuäse)
• 1 can mushrooms, diced (Pilze, gewürfelt)
• 1 pkg salami, diced (Salami, gewürfelt)
• 1 small can corn (Mais)
• 1 Rep Pepper, diced (rote Paprika, gewürfelt)
• 1/2 pkg feta, diced (Feta, gewürfelt)

   Dishes needed

• 1 large mixing bowl
• 1 sifter
• 1 wooden mixing spoon
• 1 bowl, with 12-14 cm diameter or cookie cutter with same diameter
• 1 pizza cutter or knife
• 1 rolling pin
• 1 sauce pan
• 1 whisk
• 1 fork
• 1 pastry brush
• 2 sheets wax baking paper

Preheat oven to 230° C or 450° F

Directions

We will start by combing 3 1/4 cups flour with the rest of the dry ingredients (minus the yeast) for the dough together in a large plastic or glass mixing bowl.  Sift all the ingredients into the bowl, then thoroughly mix them together. Once everything is mixed well make a hole in the center of the mixture and pour in the yeast.

Now slowly pour the warm water and mix the dry ingredients with the water using your wooden spoon. Once the dry ingredients and the water are mixed together start kneading the dough for 7-10 minutes (until there are no clumps).  If the dough is really sticky add some of the remaining flour to it during the kneading process. When finished the dough should still be moist, but not so sticky that it will be completely stuck to your fingers.  Now form the dough into a ball, cover it with a damp cloth and let it sit in a warm location for an hour (we place it near our radiator).

As the dough is rising it time to start with the filling (sauce and toppings). We will start with the sauce right now.  First place the small sauce pan on the stove top and turn the element to 4 or 5 (middle).  Melt the butter, then saute the garlic in the butter for a minute.  Now stir in the tomato paste, tomato juice and spices.  Continue stirring until the sauce if warm and lightly bubbling, slowly adding water until you reach a consistency that you are happy.  I like to have it a bit thicker so it is easier to work with. Once slightly bubbling remove the sauce from the element to cool.

Now we move to the toppings.  My wife is a vegetarian, so we made half as veggie Pizza Pops and half as salami, mushroom and red pepper.  Simply dice all the toppings and mix them together in a small bowl (minus the cheese).

Depending on how quickly you have gotten this finished (feel free to take your time, always have to wait for the dough) the dough should be ready.  

Lightly flour your working surface, cut a chunk of dough off (recover the rest of the dough so it doesn't get dry) and start rolling it out until the dough is approximately 2mm thin (quite thin).  Now take your bowl (or cookie cutter if you have one that is large enough) and cut out six circles.  Take any left over dough and put it back in with the unused dough.  

Now it is time to add the tasty bits.  Our next step is the sauce.  If you are a sauce lover I would suggest using 1 1/2 tsp of sauce spread evenly across one of your circles leaving about a 1/2 cm edge.  If you don't want much sauce use 1 tsp of sauce on half of the circle.  Now spread some cheese across half of the circle and 1-2 tsp of your toppings across the other half.

Now carefully fold the cheese side over the fillings side and press together with your fork. Continue this for the next 5 Pops. 

TIP: If the Pizza Pop is not staying closed lightly spread water on one side of the dough and try again.

Now pull out your oven rack, place a piece of waxer paper on it and put the six Pops on the wax paper.  Lightly brush some of your olive oil on top of the Pops and place them in the oven.

TIP: If you are making more than one kind of Pop I would suggest making a design or letter on the top of the Pop using a fork so you can tell which you are going to eat.  I used "V" for "veggie" and "T" for "Trevor's")

Place the oven rack in the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 230° C.

While the first batch of six are in the oven go back to your dough and start the process over again, rolling out and cutting the dough, etc. 

You can take the Pops out of the oven when they are all a light golden brown.  They will quite hot when they first come out of the oven, so if you are wanting to eat them right away please let them cool for 5-10 minutes.  

TIP: These tasty treats can be frozen and eaten later.  I pack two in a freezer bag once they are cooled down.  They can be reheated in the microwave or in the oven.  To reheat in the oven preheat to 175° C and bake for 5-7 minutes.  To reheat in the microwave place one or two Pops on a microwave safe plate and heat on high for 2 minutes, turn the Pops over after the 2 minutes and microwave for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes.

I hope everybody enjoys the Pizza Pops.  I have enjoyed them so much that I had to make two more batches two days later.  

For this cooking experience I went with a full album on repeat instead of a playlist.  The album is "Classified" by Classified.  A Canadian (the best really) Hip-Hop artist from Nova Scotia.