All the tastes of a pizza

If you read my food column last week, you saw my promise for another easy refrigerated crescent roll recipe today. And it's a good one.

Last week I made Pillsbury's Pizza Melts.

The recipe can be an appetizer or an easy meal teamed with a salad, which is how we ate it.

Pizza ingredients are cooked inside flaky crescent rolls and served with pizza sauce for dipping. I love recipes that involve dipping!

There's nothing complicated about making this recipe. You basically unroll a tube of refrigerated crescent rolls onto a baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper), layer a small amount of pizza sauce as well as mozzarella cheese and pepperoni and top with a second tube of crescent rolls. The top layer is brushed with a beaten egg and sprinkled with oregano. Simple enough, right?

Once the recipe cooks, you cut it into triangles. The recipe suggested 32 triangles, I did mine in 16, first cutting into eight squares. I made a few changes to the recipe, but not many. I used the reduced-fat version of the crescent rolls, mini turkey pepperoni and cut the mozzarella cheese to one cup.

The online photograph really drew me to this recipe. The beautiful golden crust dotted with oregano was very appealing to me.

Looks were not deceiving in this case. The Pizza Melts triangles were just as good as they looked. The leftovers were also delicious the next day, warmed up in the microwave.

If your family likes pizza, I highly recommend this delicious recipe.



Pizza Melts

• 2 cans (8 oz each) refrigerated reduced-fat crescent dinner rolls
• 1/4 cup pizza sauce
• 1/2 package (3.5 oz) sliced or mini turkey pepperoni
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1 cup pizza sauce for dipping

Heat oven to 375°F. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
On cookie sheet, unroll 1 can of dough into 1 large rectangle. With floured rolling pin or fingers, roll or press dough into 12x9-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.
Spead 1/4 cup pizza sauce over dough to within 1/4 inch of edges. Top with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.
On 14-inch length of parchment paper, unroll remaining can of dough. Press to make 12x9-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.
While holding paper with dough, turn dough upside down to cover cheese. Remove paper. Brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and oregano.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand on cooling rack 5 to 10 minutes. Move to cutting board. Using pizza cutter, cut into 8 squares. Cut each square in half diagonally.
Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

Adapted from Pillsbury