Guest Blog: Open-face Buffalo Chicken Pizza Calzones

Thank you so much to our good friend Anne for a great Friday Guest Blog today! Looks delicious - and great photos!!
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Many thanks to Kate and Kris for inviting us to guest blog!

As avid Internet recipe hunters, Ryan and I found this gem of a food blog called Baked Bree, where we’ve had good luck finding simple yet delicious and fun food to make.

One of our recent favorite recipes is a spin on her Pizza Skewer concoction, which is an ooey-gooey pizza roll/open-face calzone appetizer. But instead of making pizza-flavored bites, we substituted blue cheese, hot sauce and chicken to create a buffalo chicken version. But just to be clear, the pizza ones are equally as good so do yourself a favor and try those, too.

Ingredients
• Pizza dough (1 Trader Joe’s pre-made crust)
• ½ cup of flour for rolling
• 1 ½ cups of chicken (leftover rotisserie chicken chopped into bite-sized pieces)
• ¼ cup ranch dressing (plus additional for dipping sauce)
• ¾ cup finely grated, sharp cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup buffalo hot sauce (I like it spicy, so use less if you don’t)
• Crumbled blue cheese

Recipe Steps

Ryan and I have a bit of an obsession with homemade pizza, and we’ve been experimenting with what pizza dough gets the best results. I read on a blog that Trader Joe’s pre-made pizza crust is pretty tasty and easy to use. This has become our de-facto standard whenever we are craving homemade pizza or calzones.

Trader Joe’s pizza crust also works great in this recipe. Before you roll out the dough, you’re going to want to take it out of the fridge and let it sit for about 30 minutes until it becomes close to room temperature. This will make it easier to roll. Once the dough is ready, roll it out to about a 12” pie. Remember to use plenty of flour (on the rolling pin and cutting board) when rolling it out so it doesn’t stick. After the dough is rolled, layer the ingredients as you would a pizza – first spread the ranch, then the buffalo sauce and then sprinkle the chicken and cheddar cheese.

I know it might be tempting to throw this into the oven, but wait! Next, roll-up the pizza like you would a cinnamon roll as shown below.

Cut the roll into 1” segments and discard the ends of the roll. Grease a cookie sheet or pizza pan, and prop up the 1” segments with about 1” – 2” apart.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Pull out the sheet, and make sure the dough is fully cooked before brushing additional hot sauce and sprinkling the blue cheese crumbles on top. Place back in the oven for an additional five or so minutes.

Serve with ranch dipping sauce and some carrots and celery to cool your mouth down and for a healthy touch. Ryan says he likes these just as much heated up again the next day, or a late-night drunken snack.

Thanks again to Kate and Kris for letting us share our yummy take on this appetizer! Enjoy!