Week 23: Buffalo Chicken Calzones

This week Abby and I were also planning on making cupcakes for Bunco, which I was hosting this week, so I wanted our dinner to be something semi-easy. When I stumbled across a recipe for buffalo chicken calzones on one of my food blogs that I follow, it seemed like the obvious choice. I love calzones. I love buffalo chicken. And refrigerated pizza dough makes everything easier.

I loved this easy, yummy recipe so much that I made mini versions for Bunco a couple of nights later. Abby and I dipped ours in ranch instead of the usual blue cheese dressing. Next time I might try to stick some veggies in there... (Also, please note how lovely and perfectly-shaped Abby's calzone is. Mine is the blog of dough next to it.)

INGREDIENTS

1 lb pizza dough

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced

2 tsp plus 1/2 cup hot pepper sauce, divided

2 tbsp butter

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup pizza sauce

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Melt butter in a hot skillet and cook chicken thoroughly until opaque throughout and no pink remains.

In a bowl, mix together pizza sauce and 2 tsp hot pepper sauce; set aside.

When chicken is cooked through, reduce heat and add 1/2 cup hot pepper sauce, tossing to coat.

Let simmer for 10 minutes. Drain chicken if necessary.

Divide dough in half and roll out into circles.

Place half of pizza sauce mixture, chicken, and mozzarella cheese into each calzone, close, and seal edges by pinching the dough.

This wasn't in the original recipe, but Abby and I brushed some egg whites on top of each calzone, and we sprinkled them with coarse salt, fresh ground pepper, and a little grated Parmesan cheese. This made them prettier and added some good flavor to the bread.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until dough is browned. Serve with dip.

**A sad reality: Typing these recipes often makes me realize that I didn't do a very good job of following directions. For example, I put the pizza sauce/pepper sauce mixture in the skillet with the chicken instead of just pepper sauce. Both times I made them. With the previously mentioned cupcakes, I erroniously completely omitted the egg yolks that it called for. It's possible that my reading comprehension isn't as good as it should be...