Stuffed Pizza Bites — The Recipe That Feeds a Small City

The Sapulpa Methodist Church community fundraiser was Saturday. Mama had volunteered me to help cater the post-event-luncheon for the small fundraiser, which had been a winter clothing-drive for homeless-services. The luncheon was for about 200 people. The menu was scaled to the volume. The stuffed pizza bites were the small Kaylee-contribution to the larger Methodist-volunteer-cooking-effort. Brayden is one hundred and twenty weeks old.

The stuffed pizza bites are individual-portion-bite-sized stuffed pockets — small rounds of pizza dough stuffed with a small portion of pizza-sauce-and-mozzarella, sealed at the edges, baked at four-twenty-five for fifteen minutes until golden. The bites are the small-kid-friendly-portion form-factor that scales beautifully — a single batch makes about forty bites, and the recipe scales linearly without much complication.

The technique question on the scaled-version is the assembly speed. Two hundred bites at five-bites-per-person is the scale I made for the fundraiser. The assembly-line approach with Marlee Patton and Bethany Hicks helping was the fix — one of us rolled-out the dough portions, one of us added the filling, one of us sealed and pinched. The three-person assembly-line produced 200 bites in about two hours.

Sunday I made a small home-batch of twelve bites for the apartment write-up. Dustin had five. Brayden had a small piece of plain dough. The dish is the kind of small recipe that earns its place by being scalable-without-loss-of-quality.

Stuffed Pizza Bites

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 24 bites

Ingredients

• 1 can (16.3 oz) refrigerated biscuit dough (8 biscuits)
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce, plus extra for dipping
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 24 slices mini pepperoni (or regular pepperoni, halved)
• 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper (optional)
• 1/4 cup diced black olives (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin with cooking spray or butter.
2. Prep the dough. Separate each biscuit and split it in half horizontally so you have 16 rounds. Cut each round into thirds, giving you roughly 48 small pieces. Press one piece into each mini muffin cup, working it up the sides to form a small cup shape. (You’ll have some dough left over — patch any thin spots.)
3. Add the filling. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of pizza sauce into each dough cup. Add a pinch of mozzarella, one mini pepperoni slice, and any optional toppings you like.
4. Top with cheese. Finish each bite with a little more mozzarella so the top is covered and will melt into a golden cap.
5. Season and bake. Mix together the olive oil, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning in a small bowl. Lightly brush the exposed dough edges with the mixture. Sprinkle Parmesan over the tops. Bake for 12–15 minutes, until the dough is golden and the cheese is bubbly.
6. Cool and serve. Let the bites cool in the tin for 5 minutes before popping them out with a butter knife. Serve warm alongside extra pizza sauce for dipping.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 72 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 3g | Carbs: 8g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 210mg