Caprese Calzones

     Welcome to night one of operation "A Home-Made Summer." Tonight I decided to make Caprese Calzones, two ways.

     Because there are picky eaters in my family, instead of sticking to the original recipe, and making them with just Roma Tomatoes, I decided to make a few with Pepperonis.

Ingredients:

1. 2 Roma Tomatoes
2. Pepperonis (Optional)
3. 4 oz Fresh Mozzarella
4. 1 tube Pillsbury Pizza Dough
5. Fresh Basil

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes or until golden brown

Servings: 4

Preheat the oven to 425

Recipe:

     To begin, I rolled out the Pillsbury Pizza Dough until it was around one half centimeter thick, then I cut it into eight equal sections (the original recipe calls for four, but I decided to do eight because it allowed for easier separation between the two types of calzones). Next I diced my Roma Tomatoes and cut up my Pepperonis and layered them on the separate sections, making sure to leave a centimeter of space on each side for easy folding. Following that, I shredded the Mozzarella (the original recipe cubed it, but I figured that shredding it allowed for easier spread of Mozzarella throughout the calzones). Once the Mozzarella was shredded, I cut up about four large Fresh Basil Leaves in big chunks and used about a single leaf per two sections (or one if you only made four sections). 

     After I had everything on my calzones, I folded one end of the calzone over to the other, like a sheet, and pressed all edges together, to prevent any of the filling from falling out. Then I placed them on a dark, non-stick pan, and put them in the oven.

     About ten minutes later, I pulled out the calzones, and let them cool.

Conclusion:

     Although both the Roma Tomato and the Pepperoni calzones tasted great, I would suggest these as an appetizer, or light lunch, rather than as the main dish at dinner. Perhaps if you included sausage or some other meat into the calzones, you could use them as the main dinner course. As for me, I'm going to look for a different calzone recipe to put down in the books.
     Please leave comments and suggestions below.
Enjoy!

Original Recipe from Tablespoon.com ~ Daring Gourmet