Parmesan & Pepperoni Bites - mini pepperoni calzones! Crescent rolls filled with cream cheese, parmesan cheese, and chopped pepperoni. Dip the baked bites into warm pizza sauce. Great for parties, tailgating, lunch, dinner, or a side to pasta dishes. Can assemble a few hours in advance and refrigerate until ready to bake. These things fly off the plate! #pizza #calzone #partyfood #appetizer #gameday
Beat cream cheese and ¾ cup parmesan cheese with mixer until well blended. Stir in chopped pepperoni.
Separate dough into 8 rectangles; seal seams.
Spread cream cheese mixture down the middle of each rectangle. Bring long edges up to cover cream cheese; cut each into 4 squares.
Place, seam-sides down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese and a dash of Italian seasoning, if desired.
Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly.
Notes:
You can use crescent rolls or crescent dough sheets for this recipe. Regular or reduced-fat are fine.I used mini pepperoni in this recipe and left a few whole. Feel free to substitute turkey pepperoni for a lower calorie option.You can use low-fat cream cheese in the filling.Can add any of your favorite pizza toppings to the filling - mushrooms, onions, olives, peppers, ham.This recipe makes 32 pizza bites. You can easily cut the recipe in half if you don't need that many.I find it easier to cut the crescent bites with a pizza cutter wheel. The pizza cutter glides through the filled dough and the filling doesn't ooze out.You can assemble the bites and refrigerate them a couple of hours before baking.