Sunday, June 10, 2012

Mozzerella Cheese Sticks

I LOVE Pinterest. I could lose whole afternoons on it. Food, clothes, crafts, party ideas, you're wandering around and it's all there with enticing pictures to boot.

I have a whole board full of food ideas. Very few are quick or healthy but this recipe that I found and the girls begged me to make fits the categories.

The idea came from this pin originally.

Here is the recipe in it's original location.

And here is the recipe for anyone who doesn't want to have to open 25 tabs.

- String cheese. Any flavor or brand will do. After doing a bit of research it was mentioned that fat free
   doesn't melt as fast. The original recipe called for 12 sticks we did 8.
- 1 egg
- flour
- 5 T of bread crumbs. I put 3 slices of bread in the food processor with a sprinkle of Italian seasoning and
   a tarragon rub and it was more than enough to do 8 full cheese sticks. I let the bread crumbs dry out over
   4 hours
- 2 T Parmesan cheese
- olive oil or cooking spray. The original recipe had you use this to coat your foil on the pan to
   avoid sticking. I used parchment paper and had no problems.

Cut your cheese sticks to size BEFORE you freeze them. Frozen cheese sticks are a lot harder to cut than you'd think. We cut our cheese sticks into thirds but next time I think I will go smaller to make them last 3 seconds longer, maybe.

Once the cheese sticks are frozen put an egg in a bowl and beat it well. 

In another bowl combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

To coat the cheese sticks roll them in the flour (we put flour in a gallon baggie tossed in all the cheese and shook it up really well) dip them in the egg and then roll them in the bread crumb mix. 

Place the cheese sticks on your lined and greased, if necessary, baking sheet. 

Bake at 400* for 4 minutes or until crisp. Watch them closely so they don't become cheese puddles. Ours took 6 minutes and I think I could have left them in one more minute to get a little bit more crispy. 

Here are my lovely photos.
 
The girls loved them, George only had a few but she is so picky I'm amazed she tried them at all. ElCid though they were great, fried cheese is his favorite restaurant appetizer and would like more next time, he only got one!