Mini Pizza Bites

Food is always more fun when it’s bite-size, right? Teeny-tiny, cute versions of our fave foods always taste better and are so much fun to eat (plus, you can totally eat MORE of them without having to do an extra hour or three of cardio the next day!)

Summer is fast approaching and that means cottage weekends, pool parties, play dates and lots of feed-a-crowd opportunities. The perfect settings for finger-good entertaining, which I happen to be a huge fan of lately. Platters of small bites and easy grab-and-go snacks that everyone can help themselves to mean that I get to spend more time enjoying myself, and less time in the kitchen. Because, truthfully, summers are so short here in Toronto, who wants to spend them in the kitchen?

What I love most about this recipe is that it’s a bunch of store-bought components brought together with a wee bit of prep and baking, so they can be whipped up in a matter of minutes. You will need a couple of trays of silicone ice cube trays for this recipe, so keep that in mind if you’re planning these for an upcoming event. I bought mine from Amazon.ca (they are also available on Amazon.com too). If you’re in a pinch, you could use regular plastic ice cube trays, but be sure to well oil them first as it can be trickier to pop the pizza bites out.

We’re partial to classic {vegan} pepperoni pizza around here, but you can customize these with any combination of your favorite pizza toppings. Any way you stuff them though, they are guaranteed to rock the next play date, pool party or picnic, guaranteed!

Mini Vegan Pizza Bites

Ingredients:

All purpose flour for rolling out dough

15 oz store-bought fresh pizza dough, divided in half.

1/2 cup pizza sauce or marinara sauce

1/3 cup shredded vegan mozzarella

1/4 cup vegan pepperoni, chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp pizza seasoning or 1 tsp each dried oregano, basil, thyme

Directions:

Lightly oil and flour one silicone or plastic ice cube tray. Cut pizza dough in half and on a lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/8″ thick. Repeat with other half of dough and set aside.

Transfer the first rolled out piece of dough to the ice cube tray and press the dough down into each hole. Fill each hole with approximately 1 teaspoon each of sauce, cheese and pepperoni, being careful not to over-fill the hole.

Cover tray with remaining dough, pressing down sides to seal, and trim any excess dough (save it to use for more pizza bites!)

Freeze for 30 min or refrigerate for 60 min so that the dough can set. (It makes it easier to turn the dough out of the tray)

Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Turn out dough onto a parchment-baking sheet and use a small knife or pastry wheel cutter to separate each bite. Turn bites upright and line up on baking sheet. Combine olive oil and pizza seasonings and brush tops of each bite with a bit of oil.

Bake for 15-20 min until golden.

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