Mini Pepperoni Pizzas

October: National Pizza Month

We have eaten Chicago-style deep dish pizza when we lived in Illinois; New York City’s thin crust pizza when we took the 45-minute train ride to Manhattan from where we lived in New Jersey;  una pizza autentica when we traveled to Italy; cheap cardboard-tasting pizzas during college; delivery pizza for game day gatherings; frozen pizza for lazy meals; and semi-homemade pizza for creative cooking. Pizza is just a popular dish any way it is prepared! No wonder there are several related food holidays just for pizza (see Notes below). We celebrate National Pizza Month with a cute version of our comfort food: mini pepperoni pizzas.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough(we used Pillsbury brand thin crust)
• 1 small jar pizza sauce (we used Ragu brand)
• 1 bag shredded pizza cheese
• 1 package of mini pepperoni slices (we used Hormel brand)

Directions

Remove the pizza crust dough from the tube package. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the dough. Cut circles with the rim of a glass or three-inch round cookie cutter. Bake the mini crusts in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F for 5-7 minutes. Remove from the oven. Spread pizza sauce over the mini crusts.

Sprinkle the cheese shreds over them. Top with mini pepperoni Slices. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Notes

• Make mini pizzas of your choice or try our HI (Hawaiian) pizza recipe during the second week in January for National Pizza Week.
• Omit the mini pepperoni slices for plain mini cheese pizzas on September 5 for National Cheese Pizza Day.
• Substitute the mini pepperoni slices for Italian sausage on October 11 for National Sausage Pizza Day.
• Add all your favorite toppings (except anchovies) on the mini pizza crusts on November 12 for National Pizza With Everything (Except Anchovies) Day.