Appetizer ideas: Mini pizzas

Mini makes everything cuter, right?! And when it comes to food, mini also makes things easier to eat, AKA finger food! These super easy to make mini pizza appetizers are the perfect finger food for a dinner party or, more likely in my case, dinner any night of the week for Maxwell!

Here’s what you need to make mini pizzas. I got the first 3 items from the International food section at World Market!

Pizza sauce
Ready to bake pizza crust
Seasonings
Shredded mozzarella
Toppings (pepperchinis, pepperonis, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms)
Olive oil

First, pre heat the oven to 400 degrees. Then, it’s time to cut the crust into mini pieces. There are multiple ways to cut the ready to bake crusts. You can either cut the 7 inch circle into 12 mini triangles with a knife. Or you can use any cookie cutter you have on hand to make fun shapes, like my star pizzas in the images below. If you use a cookie cutter, I suggest pressing the cookie cutter down on the dough, holding it there, and pulling the dough away from the cookie cutter.

Once your dough has been cut into the desired shapes, it’s time to put together your pizzas! First, heat 6 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on low for 5 minutes. Turn the burner off and cover the top of each piece of pizza crust with olive oil. I just use my fingers and gently rub the pizza crust into the olive oil in the skillet. Next, cover each piece of pizza in sauce. I used about 1.5 tablespoons per star pizza. Next, sprinkle on cheese.

One of the things I love about this “recipe” is there is really no right or wrong way to do it. If you like lots of cheese, add extra! Don’t like sauce, no worries! And then add whatever toppings you’d like. I cut up mushrooms, pepperchinis, cheery tomatoes, and pepperonis into tiny pieces and added a 4-6 to each piece of pizza. Then sprinkle on Italian seasoning or red pepper flakes or both! And bake!

To make clean up super easy, cover a baking sheet with tin foil and place all of your mini pizza pieces on the sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool and enjoy your delicious mini pizzas!

These little mini star pizzas would have been perfect for my twinkle twinkle star baby shower!

Want more delicious Italian food recipes? Be sure and check out these awesome recipes:

Kristi Murphy: Caprese Salad

Creative Green Living: Antipasta Salad

Giggles Galore: Brushetta Bar

Whitney Bond: Chicken caesar baked pasta cups

Now, for some even more exciting stuff… thank you to the new daytime series on ABC Television Network, “The Chew” and World Marker, you could win a trip for 2 to Italy! Whahoo! Contestants can enter online at worldmarketsweepstakes.com for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Italy!