Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Those of you regular readers already know that I love fall.  You may not know, however, that I am a big fan of college football. 

Yep. SnoWhite enjoys Saturday football games. 

You wouldn’t have caught me saying that in a million years before I met Frog Prince; but, I’ve grown to love it. 

Especially Michigan State Football! And, these appetizers would be great for a fall football party. 

{the fact that these cheese sticks are the same color as the Spartan’s Green & White do not contribute to the delicious taste, but they do make a festive tailgate food!} 

Thanks to the Secret Recipe Club, I finally got the nudge I needed to checked off a “bucket-list” food item for me – Mozzarella Sticks! 

This month, I was blessed to get to peruse my friend Sarah’s blog – Fantastical Sharing of Recipes!    Sarah and I go way back… okay, not really, but I do feel like I’ve “known” her for a long time, since she’s one of my faithful weekly participants in Friday Favorite Finds. 

We’ve also been married for roughly the same amount of time, and she lives in the same part of the country my dear Frog Prince is from.  And, if I did have a cat – muffin is a pretty chef-appropriate name for the cute kitten.

I was really excited to take a gander through her blog and spy on her recipes!  A number of them caught my attention:  Denver Oven Omelet, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake, Broccoli Shells & Cheese, Snickerdoodle Donuts, & her Ranch-Style Spaghetti, that I’ve had pinned for a while now. 

But, when I saw she had a recipe for mozzarella sticks – I was hooked. 

I love the flavor of the sticks, and I tried baking them rather than frying them; they turned out great.  Paired nicely with roasted tomato soup for dipping/dunking and you have a delicious appetizer for fall football.  Thanks, Mrs. Fantastical.   

Baked Mozzarella Sticks – Adapted from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes

Ingredients

• 8 pieces of string cheese**
• 1 T flour
• 1 egg, lightly beaten + 1 tsp. milk
• 4 T Panko bread crumbs
• 1 tsp. dried parsley or Italian seasoning
• Olive oil

Directions

Unwrap the string cheese & cut each piece of cheese in half. 

**I used 4 pieces of string cheese and gave a the recipe a try using mozzarella cheese that I cut about the width of a piece of string cheese. 

Lightly spray a cookie sheet with olive oil cooking spray. 

Prepare three bowls or small plates with the following ingredients:

(1) 1 T flour, (2) 1 egg + 1 tsp. milk, and (3) 4 T Panko Bread Crumbs + seasoning

Drop the cheese stick into the flour and roll around to coat. 

Then, using a toothpick, transfer the cheese to the egg dish.  Dip into the egg. 

Finally, roll the egg-coated cheese stick into the bread crumb mixture. 

Place onto the prepared cookie sheet.  Then, repeat with all the rest until complete. 

Then, freeze the cheese sticks for 30-45 minutes.  The goal here is to get the cheese to freeze solid so that it doesn’t ooze out in the oven.  Your freeze-time may vary. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Remove the tray from the freezer and then spray the tops of the cheese sticks with olive oil.  Bake for 4 minutes.  Remove tray from the oven and flip the cheese sticks over.  Spray lightly again with olive oil and return to the oven for 3-4 minutes. 

Remove the cheese sticks from the oven and transfer immediately to a cool plate.

 

To make in advance & freeze – bake the cheese sticks for the first 4 minutes.  Then cool on a plate and place in a freezer-friendly bag.  Freeze until ready to use.  Then, bake 4-6 minutes to reheat. 

Serve with roasted tomato soup or marinara sauce & enjoy! 

**Note: The mozzarella cheese (non-string cheese) worked pretty well, although it oozed a bit more.  We enjoyed these broken into bits and served on top of our soup.**

Thanks, SRC – I’m having such a fun time being a part of this group.