Recipes and Cooking Ideas for Homemakers and Amateur Cooks
 

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Posted on January 8, 2009
Filed Under Side dishes, Snacks

Ok, so I get an F on making mozzarella sticks! About half of them had melted cheese running out. The taste, though, gets an A+!

I’ve had an eye on this recipe for awhile and I’d buy string cheese and before I got them made, the string cheese got eaten, so I’d buy another pack of string cheese, and it would get eaten again, and so on. String cheese is a great snack, especially if you need a snack on the run… the pieces are individually wrapped, so you don’t have to waste time putting it in a snack bag or anything.

Just to clear the air a bit, in case you’re wondering why I’m posting non-diet things, I did figure out how many calories these little things have… it’s 80. 80 calories each and they’re only about 2″ long! And you can eat one in 2 bites. :( But it is a really yummy 2 bites!

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Baked Mozzarella Sticks

2 packages (5 oz each) string cheese
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large egg whites
2 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (I used cracker crumbs)
1 tsp. dried oregano (I think next time I might try Italian seasoning instead)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Marinara sauce

This is the cheese I used…
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Remove cheese from packages; cut each cheese stick in half crosswise.
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Combine flour and cornstarch in a shallow dish. Beat egg whites and water in another shallow dish until well mixed. Combine bread crumbs, oregano, and salt in a third shallow dish. Coat cheese with flour mixture. Dip into egg white mixture, being sure to coat thoroughly, including ends. Coat with bread crumb mixture.
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Dip into egg whites and bread crumbs a second time, being sure ends are coated. I ran out of the egg white mixture AND the crumb mixture and had to make more. The flour mixture looked like it barely had a dent in it! Place on ungreased baking sheet.
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Freeze at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400. Drizzle cheesesticks with melted butter. Bake until crumbs just begin to brown, 5-7 minutes.
Oh, no!!! Cheese all over the place!
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Here is what happened: I totally forgot the ‘drizzle melted butter over them’ part and took them out of the freezer and put them in the oven. When they were in for about 5 min, I suddenly remembered the butter! So, I got them out and drizzled butter over them. At that point, no cheese was showing. I put them back in for another 5 min so they could brown and this is what they looked like when I got them out again. I thought of waiting and making them again before featuring them, but decided you might as well know that I make plenty of mistakes (some of which I can hide though ???? ).
Serve warm with marinara sauce.
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This recipe came from an Easy to Bake Easy to Make recipe card. A tip on there is: “Since these must be frozen before baking anyway, keep several batches in the freezer and bake them whenever you need a quick snack.” Sounds like a great idea for spur-of-the-moment company! Or if you need a quick side dish to go with a meal. Last night, I served them with Hearty Hamburger Soup (to be featured later) and biscuits.

Comments

12 Responses to “Baked Mozzarella Sticks”

  1. Mama Bear on January 8th, 2009 11:29 am

    Oh I don’t even care if cheese leaked…I LOVE mozzarella sticks, great recipe, I’m bookmarking!!!

  2. Rosalyn on January 8th, 2009 1:12 pm

    Yummy! Mozzarella sticks are one of my favorite appetizers! ???? In the past I’ve just taken the easy way out and bought them in the box (TGI Friday brand is delicious)

    But…now I can make them w/o spending alot of extra money on them! :)

  3. Freida on January 8th, 2009 1:53 pm

    Oh wow, these look fabulous!! You may make these sometime when we come. ???? hehe.

  4. Shannon on January 8th, 2009 2:24 pm

    ummmm, I love mozerella sticks. I never have cheese sticks on hand but I think I’ll get some and make these, esp if you can just bake them instead of deep fry them!!

  5. Monica on January 8th, 2009 7:21 pm

    Yummy!! I could eat some right now. I love the idea of keeping them in the freezer for a spur of the moment snack. I’ll have to try that!!

  6. Berneice on January 8th, 2009 9:29 pm

    Another cheese stick lover here. You know that day you are planning to come here… you could bring these! :) I also like the baking instead of deep frying! Healthier ????

  7. Marilyn on January 9th, 2009 5:20 am

    oh those look so good, am defintely going to make some! :-)I also like the idea of baking the cheesesticks instead of frying ’em. :-)

  8. Melissa K on January 9th, 2009 6:11 am

    Kay,
    These look yummy! I make cheesesticks here too, but my recipe actually uses Bisquick and ends up being more like a breadstick with cheese inside. We all love them!! If you’re interested in that recipe, I’ll be happy to pass it on. It’s also not low calorie so I’m thinking maybe you want to wait on this one and, like me, try to avoid those types of foods for a while!!

  9. My First Kitchen on January 10th, 2009 7:38 am

    Hi, Kay! Thanks so much for stopping by! I love mozzarella sticks and have always heard that freezing them is the key. Looks like you have it all covered! I wanted to answer your question about flax seed. I’d definitely grind it before you sprinkle it on things; it’s tough to chew, at least for me. :) Enjoy the PBJ, and I hope to see you again!

  10. Katrina on January 11th, 2009 9:17 pm

    Yum. Great idea!

  11. Judi on January 21st, 2009 3:41 pm

    Gotta love the oozing cheese. mmmm

  12. Terra on April 16th, 2009 6:42 pm

    If you put the string cheese in the freezer until you’re ready to make them, the cheese doesn’t melt so fast, so it won’t leak out like that. I’m gonna try your recipe. Sounds great.