I like making food that I have to shape with my hands. I find that it’s a calming experience. 

Whether it’s making meatballs or shaping dough, the repetitious movement gives me time to think through things if I’m having a rough day or week. Usually after a long day, I dread having to make dinner, but I found myself recently looking forward to it.

I’ve seen variations of “pizza bite” recipes and the idea has always intrigued me, so I decided to try my hand and making my own version of pizza bites. They’re pretty simple to make, honestly. The hardest part is shaping the dough around the filling, which was – in my case – pepperoni, cheese and sauce. If you pull on the dough too much you’ll tear it, and all the cheese and sauce will ooze out during baking. 

The trick is making sure that when you flatten this biscuit dough, you don’t make the circle too large or too thin. I found that making it about the size of my palm worked best. To make the circle, just press the dough out with your hands. To close the bites, bring up the edges of the dough and gently twist, almost as if you were wrapping a wine bottle in tissue paper or gift wrap, and press the seam together to seal it. 

You can fill these with any pizza topping variation. I stuck with traditional this time, but next time I might try it with some chicken or maybe even some pesto sauce. I can’t tell you exactly how much seasoning you’ll need for the tops of the bites because it’s all to taste. Just sprinkle the seasoning and Parmesan cheese  — especially the cheese — to your heart’s content. There’s no judgmental Olive Garden waiter here to stop you. 

You can make these all for yourself or take an hour or so to make them before your next football viewing party. If you get a normal sized can of biscuits, you can get 16 bites out of it for a nice snack or appetizer.  

What you’ll need 

1 can of biscuit dough 

Pizza sauce or marinara sauce 

Pepperoni slices 

Cheese slices

1 large egg

Italian seasoning

Garlic powder

Parmesan cheese

How to make it 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Cut each biscuit in half and roll each half into a ball. 
3. Flatten one dough ball into a palm-sized circle. 
4. Place a small dollop of sauce in the center of the circle.
5. Place a slice of pepperoni and a quarter slice of cheese on top of the sauce. Add a second layer of each if desired. 
6. Fold up sides of biscuits around filling and twist and press dough together to close. 
7. Place on lined baking sheet. 
8. Repeat until you’re out of biscuits.
9. In a small bowl, whisk the egg.
10. Using a spoon, cover the tops of the bites with a layer of egg. 
11. Sprinkle Italian seasoning, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese on top as desired. 
12. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden. 
13. Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy.