When I think of the perfect side dish for any meal, I often think of vegetables or bread. Two completely opposite types of food on the health spectrum, I know. But, I really love veggies and I really love bread! My daughter, D, is right in that same boat with me.
I recently saw an episode of “Pioneer Woman” (I seriously enjoy her show!) where she uses mayonnaise to make a creamy cheese spread for her olive cheese bread (her recipe can be found here). I started thinking about how I could use that same method to make a yummy, cheesy topping or filling for breadsticks.
As I have experimented with this idea, I tried putting the cheesy filling inside of my breadsticks and on top of them. Inside won in my family. That is because you still have the fully crusty bread you might be craving, but then there is a fun surprise inside… think stuffed-crust pizza.
As you will see in the recipe below, I use premade, refrigerated pizza crust. (This is why it is called “semi-homemade.”) You could also use French bread or homemade pizza dough, and I bet it would be delicious on biscuit dough too. The main reason I used the premade crust was that it just happened to be in my fridge at the time I started experimenting. It worked so well the first time that it stuck.
These cheesy breadsticks are delicious when served with soup, Italian dishes, or anything else. They are gooey in the center without being too much, so they truly complement any dish. Enjoy!
Cheesy Breadsticks
Ingredients
- 1 can refrigerated thin pizza crust
- ¼-½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ¼ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- ¼ cup Italian cheese blend, shredded
- ½ tsp dried chives
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp garlic salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425° (or whatever temperature it states on the can of pizza dough).
- Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray (you may also consider lining the sheet with aluminum foil before spraying).
- Open the can of pizza dough and spread the dough out onto the baking sheet. (It may hang off a little, which is fine.)
- In a medium bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together. Use just enough mayonnaise to bring the cheese together. Blend well.
- Use a spoon to spread the cheese mixture on half of the pizza crust. (I spread it along the long side so there are more, shorter breadsticks later. It does not matter which half you do, though.)
- Carefully fold the half of the crust without cheese over to cover the half of the crust with the cheese mixture. (You may need to reposition the dough a little to center it on the baking sheet once the step is complete.)
- Pinch the ends of the dough together to seal in the cheese. Also, gently press down on the dough all through the center to help the cheese laminate the two halves of the dough together.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
- Allow the crust to cool for about 5 minutes before using a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 8 (or more) breadsticks.
