Mickey Stuffed Pizzas

That Mickey Mouse. He thinks he’s “all that,” what with being responsible for launching Walt Disney’s entire empire and everything.

Well, okay, so he’s got the spunky, can-do attitude and the big heart to match. And he’s got the jaunty red shorts and big yellow feet. All right. We’ll give him a little latitude with the attitude.

…but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with him, too. How about making some Mickey “Stuffed Head” Pizzas with your family tonight?

MICKEY STUFFED HEAD PIZZAS

Everyone in the family can customize their own Mickey pizza to meet their own customizable needs. Whatever flavors you like in your pizza, you can stuff in Mickey’s head! (He won’t mind. He’s very good-natured and wants you to be happy.)

You’ll need:

• pizza dough
• pizza fixin’s (veggies, pepperoni, ham, pineapple, Buffalo chicken…pick your pizza pleasure!)
• cheese
• sauce

1. Separate the pizza dough into golfball-sized chunks. Roll each into little pizza dough golf ball shape. Try to make sure you end up with a number of pizza balls that is divisible by 3. Divvy up the balls so everyone has a number that’s divisible by 3. (You’ve figured this out by now, right? It’s because you’ll need one ball for Mickey’s head and two for his ears.)
2. For each dough ball, flatten the dough into a circle. Leave it thick or thin, whatever you prefer. Fill it with whatever pizza toppings you like. Leave room for a bit of cheese and a little sauce, too. Tip: Put the sauce in first. It’ll make it easier to seal up.
3. Close up each ball by pulling the dough over the pocket and pinching the dough together. Be sure you’ve got a good seal, or you’ll have a Mickey explosion in the oven.
4. Once you’ve got all the balls filled, you’ve got two options to shape Mickey’s head. You can either a) attach the ears to the head by pinching the dough together very well (this is best done directly on the baking sheet you’re going to use) or b) attach the ears with toothpicks. WARNING: If you’ve got very young kids (or forgetful adults) eating these, be safe and go with plan A, skipping the toothpicks.
5. With all the Mickey heads on the baking sheet or pizza pan, brush/dab some sauce on the top surfaces. You can either sprinkle them with shredded cheese, cut faces from slices of cheese, or get creative and use black olives and whatnot to face-ify him.
6. Bake at the temperature your pizza dough calls for.
7. Enjoy!

Just in time for autumn, the polka dots come out to play some football…