Hello, friends! February is here and it is one of my favorite months to make festive recipes. The first recipe I am going to share with you is one for these heart-shaped mini pizzas! They are super tasty, simple to make, and you will surely 'wow' a friend, a family member, or your special sweetie on Valentine's Day if you decide to whip some up for them.
Ingredients (makes 6 mini pizzas):
- 1 4" heart-shaped cookie cutter
- 2 rolls of Pillsbury dough sheets
- 8 ounces of turkey sausage
- 1 pack of mini pepperoni
- 1 pack of shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 1/2 cup of spinach
- 1/4 red onion
- 6 tablespoons of pizza sauce
- 6 teaspoons of pesto
- Salt (to taste, to sauté the spinach)
- Pepper (to taste, to sauté the spinach)
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil (to sauté the spinach)
- A light dusting of all-purpose flour (for your work surface)
Directions:
Begin by preheating your oven to 425 degrees. Next, prepare the dough. I have my own dough recipe, but decided to use Pillsbury Dough Sheets for this one because I wanted the crust to be extra light and flaky! On a lightly floured surface, remove one sheet from its container, lay it out flat, and use a rolling pin to smooth out the edges. Starting in one corner, begin cutting out hearts with the cookie cutter. Make sure to place the cookie cutter close to the previous heart skeleton you cut out in order to utilize the most amount of dough possible. Complete these steps for the second dough sheet. I was able to get three hearts worth of dough from each sheet with a few extra scraps left over that I used for breakfast the next day.
Next, transfer the dough hearts onto another lightly floured surface (I used a large cutting board). In a small pan on medium-high heat, cook the turkey sausage until no rawness remains and it is evenly dark brown throughout. Then, again in a small pan, add the olive oil and sauté the spinach on medium-high heat for just 2-3 minutes, making sure not to overcook it. Next, on a cutting board, peel and chop about 1/4 of a red onion into small pieces.
In a small bowl, mix the pizza sauce with pesto. Add 1 1/3 tablespoon of the mixture to each pizza and smooth it out evenly across the entire surface of the dough. Next, add a hefty pinch of shredded mozzarella cheese to each pizza, making sure to cover the entire surface equally. Then add an equal portion of the sautéed spinach, cooked turkey sausage, 8-10 mini pepperonis, red onions, and an extra sprinkle of shredded mozzarella cheese to each pizza.
Last but not least, transfer the pizzas to a baking stone and allow them to bake for about 8 minutes, making sure to check on them at the 5-minute mark to assure you achieve your desired level of crispiness (less or more). Once they are ready, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for a minute or two - then get ready to dig in!
Enjoy! :)