Pizza Pops Recipe

My son's birthday is coming up and I wanted to make as much as possible by myself since we're on such a strict budget.

I decided to make these lovely pizza pops!

They're super easy to make and kids love them.

First, the pizza dough.

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1.5 cups self-raising flour
1/8tsp (or a pinch) of salt
1 egg
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup milk

Instructions

Place your self raising flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre.

In another bowl, beat together the egg, olive oil and milk.  Pour into the well in your flour and stir until thoroughly combined.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until the dough has reached an even consistency.

Pizza Pops

Ingredients

Prepared pizza dough
100g diced ham
100g mozzarella
100g crushed pineapple, drained well
1 jar tomato-based pasta sauce

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 220C

Press your dough out into a rough, rectangular shape about 1/2 inch thick that is about twice as long as it is wide.

Cut the dough into 1/2 inch wide strips.  Roll each strip into little discs - you may have to press them down as you do this to avoid creating cones from your dough as it will attempt to push upward.

Top each disc with a little pasta sauce, pineapple and ham and then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Repeat until all have been prepared.

Place mini pizzas on a lightly oiled baking sheet or on wax paper and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted.

When cooled slightly, press a kitchen skewer up through the bottom of the pizza pop careful not to go all the way through (or it will just slide down).

Voilà!  Pizza pops.

How many this makes will depend on how thin you cut your strips and how long your rectangle is to begin with.  Mine made about 15.

Ham & Cheese Mini Quiches

This is something that I did for the Gunning playgroup today.  They were so well received I told the parents that I'd be putting them up on my blog.  I'm glad everyone loved them!

Let's start with a simple, basic shortcrust recipe.

Basic Savory Shortcrust

Makes 2 savory pie crusts or 12-18 mini quiches (depending on exact size)

Ingredients

500g plain flour
250g chilled, unsalted butter, cubed
2 eggs, cold
2 tablespoon icewater
2 pinch salt (or 1/8 tsp, whichever you prefers)

Instructions

Place your flour, butter and a pinch of salt in your food processor.  Blend until the combination looks like bread crumbs.  There should be no significant chunks of butter left.

Whisk together the egg and icewater.  Add to the food processor while it is running and continue mixing until the mixture comes together.

Remove from the food processor and turn out onto a counter or cutting board.  It should not stick to the surface even if it is unfloured.  Bring it together into a ball and flatten it with your hands or a rolling pin until you have a disc.  Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for chilling.

Shortcrust pastry must be chilled before baking.  The colder it is immediately before you pop it in the oven, the crispier your result.  Generally you would chill this disc for 2 hours.  Since heat transfer is linear, the thinner the object, the faster it will chill.  If you are in a hurry - flatten the dough as much as possible.  I roll mine out to 5mm thickness and chill it for 20-30 minutes.

Now that you have your pastry...

Ham & Cheese Mini Quiche

Makes 12-18 (depending on pan size)

These couldn't be simpler.  Okay they could be simpler, but only if they came in a box.

Ingredients

10 eggs
1/2 cup light cream
6 shallots, sliced thinly
200g diced ham
1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 200C (180C fan-forced).  Grease two muffin tins.

Roll out your shortcrust dough to your desired thickness.  Cut circles with a radius approximately 1cm larger than the radius of your muffin cups (I use all sorts of things.  Small bowls, jars, egg rings, glasses, etc.  Be creative!).  Line the muffin cups with your pastry.  It will not reach all the way to the top.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, shallots and ham until combined.  Pour the mixture into your pastry cups, right to the top.   Sprinkle with tasty cheese.

Bake in your preheated oven for 12-25 minutes (time varies wildly depending on the size/shape of your muffin tins).  Quiches are done when the egg is set and the tops are golden.

For best results, serve immediately.  When reheating - an oven should be used as microwaves can leave egg products rubbery.  Reheat at 150C for approximately 20 minutes.