Baked Mozzarella Sticks

As I have discussed many times here on "Hot Dog", I am not an avid cheese eater. But I must say that I have been trying my hardest to open my mind to the sometimes-hard-sometimes-soft-often-stinky dairy product. Growing up mozzarella sticks were very popular with my little brother, whereas I would go nowhere near such a thing. But when I came across "skinny" sticks, I was very intrigued. These are baked and not fried, and use low-fat string cheese, so you can enjoy the bite-sized morsels without the greasy fingers and guilt-ridden mind.

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Ingredients:

• 6 low-fat mozzarella string cheese (I used Frigo Cheese Heads)
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 5 tbsp. panko Japanese breadcrumbs
• 1/2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
• 1/8 tsp. onion powder
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbsp. parmesan cheese

Cut each string cheese in half, prodcuing 12 mini-sticks. Make an assembly line with flour in one small bowl, the egg in a small bowl, and mix the panko, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, and parmesan together in the last small bowl.

Roll the cheese in the flour, shaking off any excess flour. Now coat it in the egg. Let the excess egg drip off and then roll it in the panko mix. Continue this until all cheese is coated in breadcrumbs.

Store them in the freezer before cooking, or you will have a horrible cheesy mess when you take them out of the oven. You can store them to serve at a later date, or at least let them freeze for a couple of hours before cooking.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray. Place the frozen sticks on the prepared baking sheet and spray the tops with a little more cooking spray.

Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, turn over and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes. Watch them closely as not to burn them. Serve with marinara sauce of you choice.