Pizza Poppers

By dette

Both my husband and I are big pizza fans, so we created these pizza rolls that we like to take to parties. I think they'd be fun to set out for Santa to enjoy, along with his milk and cookies!

Ingredients

• Ingredients
• 4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 1 egg
• 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1-1/3 cups minced pepperoni (about 5 ounces)
• 2 cups pizza sauce, warmed

Details

Servings 16
Cooking time 45mins

Preparation

Step 1

Directions
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, sugar, yeast, oregano and salt. In a saucepan, heat water and shortening to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat until moistened. Add egg; beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Stir in cheese and pepperoni; mix well. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into four pieces. Divide each piece into eight balls. Roll each ball into a 12-in. rope. Tie into a loose knot, leaving two long ends. Fold top end under roll; bring bottom end up and press into center of roll. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with pizza sauce. Yield: 32 appetizers.