Heart Shaped Calzones

With my anniversary coming up I thought I would share a fun meal we like to create for special occasions. It is a on of my hubby’s favorite meals and is usually a regular meal we we have on Valentines Day. The kiddos always enjoy it and seem to eat fun shaped food better, too. Best of all it is super easy to make and is like making pizza just a step or 2 different! I use the exact same dough we use for our Favorite Homemade Pizza. See the Variations section at the bottom for tips on making a non shaped calzone. Give it a try and let me know how you like it!  🙂

What You Need:

• Pizza Dough (This is our Favorite Pizza Dough Recipe and can make 2 large calzones)
• Rolling pin (we use a hard cup)
• Paper or other heart shaped object
• Sauce (we like to use canned/bottled spaghetti sauce)
• Guts for the calzone (we like sausage, cheese, peppers, pepperoni, etc.)
• 1 egg white
• Fork, spoon, Spatula
• Pan
• Baking Sheet
• Preheated oven at 420°

Directions:

Step 1: Roll out your pizza dough. You want it a little thinner than when you roll it out for pizza. Create a heart shape using paper or existing item if you have one. The large paper heart is the size of a sheet  of paper folded in half and the small heart shaped tin is large enough to cover 5 pieces of chocolate. Lay your heart shape on top of the dough and cut/trace around it in the dough with a knife. Create 2 pizza dough hearts of the same size for one calzone.

Step 2: Add your sauce. Not a ton, just enough to cover the dough. Try to stay away from the edge (a good 1/2 inch is safe) because you will need the sides to pull over and pinch later.

Step 3: Optional: We like to preheat the “guts” on the stove top prior to make sure they are cooked and it helps speed up the process. In the picture below is Sausage, cheese and pepperoni.

Step 4: Add your favorite toppings/”guts” to the center of the calzone. Place your second dough heart on top of the guts/sauce/1st heart. It heart may “shrink” or get misshaped when moving it from the pan, but that is ok. Pull the bottom edge of the heart up and over the top of the second heart and pinch it down with a fork to secure it. Do this around the entire edge or the sauce will leak out during baking.

Step 5: Brush the egg white (glaze) over the calzone to help seal the edges. We use a spoon to do the “Brushing”. Optional: Cut a few small slits on the top of the calzones. These are smaller so it was not necessary. 

Step 6: Bake for 20-25 minutes at 420° or until golden brown. Just to show the size difference between the large and mini calzones.  The mini gets pretty small by the time you are done.

Step 7: Serve and enjoy! One large calzone usually feeds 2 people.

This is one meal the my kiddos L.O.V.E.!!!

Variation:

• If you want to make a non-heart shaped calzone, the easiest way is to use a pie tin/plate (pre greased).
  • Roll a large circle big enough for the tin
  • Put half of the dough over the edge (the other half will hang over the side)
  • Follow the directions above for filling the calzone
  • Then fold the dough hanging off the side over the top and pinch the edges together with a fork.
  • Brush with egg white.
  • Cut a couple slits on the top for venting
  • You can bake it in the pie tin or flip it from the tin onto a baking sheet.
  • Bake as directed.

ENJOY!!!

I am linking to these parties!