A Football Calzone Recipe For Super Bowl & Other Game Days

January 31, 2016 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Food Fun, Pasta-Pizza, Recipes, Snacks, Super Bowl

What have you planned for the Super Bowl? How about this Football Calzone: layers of pizza crust topped with pepperoni, sauce, and mozzarella.

It was created by Beth of HungryHappenings.com for Tablespoon.com, part of Pillsbury. Beth says that it’s “super simple” to make and recommends it as a hearty appetizer.

First, you’ll need a Wilton First And Ten Football Pan. Made for cakes, it’s also happy to bake your calzone.

A calzone is essentially a “pocket pizza”: It has the same ingredients as pizza, but the crust is folded over, similar to an empanada or turnover.

You also can stuff more ounces of ingredients into a calzone than you can add to a pizza crust. Although Beth doesn’t include ricotta in this recipe, we love to pile in ricotta as well as mozzarella.

While many calzones are individual “hand pies,” this calzone is big enough for a dozen football fans.

RECIPE: FOOTBALL CALZONE

Prep time is 20 minutes, and cook time is 20 minutes. Here are step-by-step photos and instructions.

Ingredients For 12 Servings

Cooking spray

4 tubes Pillsbury refrigerated thin pizza crust

3 ounces pepperoni, sliced

3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1-1/2 cups pizza sauce

1 string cheese

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F. Spray a football-shaped cake pan with cooking spray.

2. UNROLL 2 of the pizza crusts onto the baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cut football shapes out of crusts, one larger than the other, which will fit inside the Wilton football cake pan.

Tip: First cut a football shape from parchment, check the size against the pan, and use it as a cutting template.

3. UNROLL and drape the third tube of pizza dough over the inside of the football pan. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the pepperoni, cheese, and sauce. Top with the smaller football crust.

4. SPRINKLE on 1/3 of the remaining pepperoni, cheese, and sauce. Top it with the larger football-shaped crust. Sprinkle on the remaining pepperoni, cheese, and sauce.

5. UNROLL and drape the fourth tube of pizza dough over the top of the pan. Cut off the dough around the edge of the pan and pinch the dough together along the edge.

6. BAKE for 15 minutes. Then turn the oven off, cover the calzone with foil, and leave in the oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the string cheese to create the laces of the football.

7. REMOVE the calzone from the oven and un-mold it onto a serving platter. Add “laces” of string cheese. Serve hot.