best ever cheese sticks

One of my favorite parts of being a wife is weekly menu planning and grocery shopping. I know. I’m crazy. But I absolutely love it. Sometimes I feel like have I more meal ideas than we can get to and a few favorites we can’t get enough of. Plus I love planning our list, clipping coupons and finding us the best deals. 

One way to balance things is by having a system of sorts. To cut down on our grocery bill we have at least one vegetarian and one pasta dish a week. And then to make sure we get some of our favorites in without getting sick of them we have steak one week and pizza the next. Repeat.

This week of pizza week. And not to toot my own horn but I knocked it out of the park tonight. In fact the hubs would rather have my pizza than order some. On the menu tonight? Buffalo chicken pizza, cheese sticks, and salad. 

I’ll admit that my inspiration for my cheese sticks are not 100% my own cause I did work briefly...very briefly...at a pizza place in college. Did I mention that it was a sketchy pizza place? But that’s besides the point. But here is how I did it. Ready?

Ok, so I have to share this. The biggest garlic clove EVER. I had to cut it into three different portions so it would fit in my garlic press. I had to do three rounds of pressing. 

Just to compare. Normal seedless grape. Grape tomato. Largest garlic clove ever. {And please ignore all the cut marks, that is what you get when renting an apartment.}

There she is. The best cheese sticks. Yummy.

And again. I didn't cook it on this sheet though, after I snapped some pics I covered it in foil and a towel on here to keep warm till we were ready for it!

Bubbly, brown cheese, ready for their close up. 

Here’s what you do for the best cheese sticks you’ll every make.

Best Every Cheese Sticks:

-pizza dough

-3 tbs butter

-2-3 garlic cloves

-shredded mozzarella cheese 

Pre-heat oven to 450F.

1.) Melt the butter and add the garlic (depending on how big your cloves are is how many you need and also if you like it extra garlicly or not! Me, I love the garlic. Bring! It! On!) Once all melty set aside.

2.) Take the pizza dough and roll it out. I like to roll mine out and then place on a pizza peel that has been dusted with cornmeal since I cook mine on a pizza stone and it keeps it from sticking BUT you can cook it on a baking sheet if you want and if it’s non-stick {or you use parchment paper/baking mat} you don’t need cornmeal.

3.) Once the dough is rolled out take your pizza cutter and cut the dough in half and then cut strips of dough going across the opposite way. Cut the strips as thick as you want your cheese sticks. You’ll end up for a bunch of sticks that are half the length of your dough this way. If your dough pulls apart after cutting push them back so they are close together. 

4.) Then brush the dough with the garlic butter. Really slather it on there. 

5.) Now it’s time for the CHEESE. Take your shredded cheese and sprinkle allll over your dough. Really cover from edge to edge like you would a pizza. And if some cheese is hanging off that’s ok because it creates the crispy “burnt” cheese and that is yummy. 

6.) Place in your pre-heated oven and bake for about 10 mins (give or take). You want to cook it till it looks like the dough is cooked and all the cheese is melty. The cheese on the very edge with start to get dark brown. 

7.) Now it’s time for the real fun. Switch your oven off bake and turn on the HI broil. This will start to rrrreally make your cheese bubble and brown. You HAVE to keep your eye on it. If you don’t you might burn all your sticks. Watch it. It will bubble madly but wait until you get more browning of your cheese to take it out but don’t over do it and burn it. You can go quickly from toasty to burnt with the broiler. 

8.) Eat. Your. Heart. Out. Dip in left over garlic butter, pizza sauce, or creamy thick ranch. 

So it’s not healthy but I didn’t say it was the healthiest cheese sticks ever. Just the best. 

And just in case in you weren't hungry enough I wanted to share pics of our buffalo chicken pizza. Yum!

Jealous yet?