Pizza Pinwheels for Character Creation

"Crawling out of its funnel shaped web, this bulbous creature stares at you with its six eyes. Its mandibles clacking with insatiable hunger, it reaches out to you with two of its eight legs..."

"All right, who's hungry?"

Sound familiar? Welcome to the world of weekly RPG hosting. When your hospitality won't let you tell people to bring their own dinner, and your budget can't take another three large pizzas, it's time to start thinking outside the flat boxes. No matter how much your cats like sleeping on them.

Sort of like pizza, sort of like calzones, dippable in pizza sauce, and easy to eat while rolling dice; these pinwheels are the next level of evolution in RPG group food. Make these for your next game; your players will thank you!

You'll want to mix up your cheeses with your toppings, and set the bowl aside. This recipe is infinitely adjustable, but you'll want to make sure all your ingredients are chopped up nice and tiny (with the exception of thinly sliced pepperoni). For this go-round I used olives in the cheese mixture and lay pepperoni directly on the dough.

                                    

Take your can(s) of refrigerated crescent roll dough and separate it into four rectangles. Connect the diagonal seam with your fingers, as shown on the right. Squishy squish.

Lay your pepperoni in a fairly even layer over each rectangle. I used thinly sliced deli pepperoni. (Hint: At a Walmart, ask for it sliced on a one or one and a half to get a comparable thickness.) I used slightly less than a pound.

Spread your cheese/topping mixture over your pepperoni in a nice even layer. I wound up with some extra, so clearly I could have lain it on a bit thicker.

                                 

                                 

Roll your rectangles up nice and tight. 

More pinchy-times! Gotta make sure everything stays in our little pinwheels.

Cut each rectangle into four pieces. 

Mmm, tasty.

These are super easy to make ahead. Just lay them on a sheet pan and stick it in the fridge.

This is a triple batch. With saran wrap.

They can stay in here probably up to overnight.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 and space the pinwheels about an inch and a half apart.

Explode-y deliciousness!

Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. You may want to increase the time if you've refrigerated them, or they may come out a bit squishy. If so, no problem! You just might need a plate to inhale the delicious. Sorry about the last picture. They were all gone before I could get a better one!

This Recipe has Been Approved by:
Dungeon Master Fairy Princess: 7/10
Rogue Tank: 10/10

Pizza Pinwheels
Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
3 tsp Italian seasoning (or a mix of your own)
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 lb deli pepperoni, thinly sliced
3 small cans diced black olives
3 8 oz cans refrigerated crescent roll dough (I used the garlic flavor for an extra punch)
Tomato sauce, for dipping

Directions:

1. If baking immediately after construction, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. If refrigerating for later, skip this step until ready to bake.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, Italian seasoning, salt, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and olives. Set aside.
3. Unroll crescent roll dough and separate into 4 rectangles. Press the remaining perforations together to seal. Spread the filling evenly onto the rectangles. Roll up the filling inside the dough starting at the short side. Slice each roll into four slices, place on greased baking sheet.
4. If chilling, cover with plastic wrap until needed. Once ready to use, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until they reach golden brown bubbly deliciousness. While baking, warm the tomato sauce. Allow the pinwheels to cool on the pan before digging in.

And there you have it. Sustenance to pull you through three hours of hearing the other players talk about their Tiefling Gunslingers and Minotaur Wizards. And you're just over here munching on your pinwheels, done with making your hack-n-slash Elven Ranger. Or is that just me?