Good and cheesy

I hadn’t planned to do another recipe tied to Sunday’s Super Bowl, but over the weekend, my daughter suggested we try another new recipe she had seen on Pinterest. This easy recipe for mozzarella sticks comes together in just a few minutes and was very good! It would be a perfect treat for the big game.

My kids have always loved mozzarella sticks as appetizers at restaurants. I’ve made them a few times and have also bought the freezer variety. I think they’re all pretty good once dipped in warm marinara sauce!

This new recipe offers a new twist on the popular appetizer. Instead of dipping the string cheese in a bread crumb mixture and frying it in oil, you wrap the cheese in an egg roll wrapper and bake it. We made our cheese sticks and had them baked and ready to eat in about 20 minutes, I guess.

This is the first time I’ve used egg roll wrappers, and I was pleased with how easy they were to work with. (Wonton wrappers should also work, but you’d have to cut the cheese to fit and maybe adjust baking time.)

There are quite a few versions of this recipe on the Internet, and some do fry the cheese sticks rather than bake them. But Anna and I wanted a healthier snack, so we choose to bake ours. We also brushed a little olive oil on the outside hoping to encourage the wrappers to brown. They did brown a little, but don’t expect the baked variety to be as golden brown as its fried counterpart.

Some cheese did run out of a few of our cheese sticks. We just used a fork to wrap the melted cheese on top of the appetizer and ate it that way. I have since seen a tip from a recipe reviewer who said reduced-fat mozzarella string cheese doesn’t run out of the wrapper as much as the full fat. I will try that next time — maybe Sunday night because I have plenty of wrappers left!




Baked Mozzarella Sticks

• 1 package Mozzarella string cheese (I will use 2 percent next time)
• 1 package egg roll wrappers (found in produce section)*
• Water
• Olive oil
• Marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place one egg roll wrapper on cookie sheet (line with parchment paper or aluminum foil for easy cleanup). Position the wrapper so it looks like a diamond or kite. Brush a little water over wrapper.

Place cheese at the bottom point and roll to the halfway mark. Fold in corners and continue rolling. Brush olive oil over the wrapped cheese.

Repeat with remaining wrappers and cheese.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes; turn after 5 minutes to brown on both sides.

Serve with marinara sauce.

* You can also use wonton wrappers, cutting cheese to fit.