Crescent Sausage Cheese Calzone

When I was a kid my Godmother always made this calzone using crescent rolls. She would pinch the perforated together to make a sheet of the crescent dough and then fill it with this sausage mixture. It was so good it seemed you could eat the whole thing yourself. My Godmother is a great cook and I always saw her cook when I was there. It seemed that was what she always did. As soon as my Godfather came home from his construction job he would get ready to dinner. It was all ready when he would come home. He would be so tanned almost red because of the sun in the summer months. He was the darkest Italian man I ever knew. We all had to chip in to set the table and we would all sit down for dinner. My Godfather always at the head of the table like every other Italian father. I have so many memories of eating dinner at my Godparents and sitting with my Godsisters and Godbrother. I could honestly say it was my second family. My Godparents truly lived up to the role of real Godparents. Well my Godmother always showed me how she cooked. She's from Northern Italy in a city called Bologna (bo loan ya) not (bo loan nee). That's the correct pronunciation. So her style of cooking was very different than my mom's cooking because my family is from Southern Italy in a city called Bari, Italy. Probably the 2 most influential women in my love of cooking, baking and food in general. They are the strongest Italian women I know.

So onto this one dish my Godmother would make. Like I said it's a little bit of an Americanized Italian Calzone. I never knew how my Godmother came about making this and I really don't care because it is so good.

Now Pillsbury makes crescent dough without perforations. Which makes making this calzone easier and prevent the filling from oozing out of the perforations if you didn't pinch them right. So I buy the Pillsbury Recipe Creations Crescent Dough. You will want to buy 2.

Here is a pic of their product:

How you want to do this recipe is first make the filling. You buy the bulk pork sausage, I always buy Bob Evans sausage.

Preheat oven to 350'F.
Unroll dough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets, gently stretching dough on each side.

In a skillet brown sausage until no longer pink and in crumbles. Add in garlic and mix around for about a 2 minutes.

Turn off heat and add to sausage, romano cheese, then mix around, then add 1 cup shredded mozzarella/pizza cheese blend and mix around. I add 8 ounces of cream cheese and mix until incorporated.

Split sausage and cheese mixture in half and place in middle of crescent dough leaving 1 inch untouched at ends, sprinkle on top of sausage mixture 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella/pizza cheese blend.

Scoot over calzone to lay 2nd. sheet of crescent dough and do the same steps. (This will allow you to bake both on the same sheet at the same time.)

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown as pictured below. Let calzones set for about 10 minutes. Then cut with a sharp knife into strips and serve! You can serve with marinara sauce but these are so good by themselves and make a great party snack!

Sausage Cheese Calzone

2 package refrigerated crescent rolls (in sheet form called recipe creations from pillsbury)
1 lb bulk sausage
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 cups shredded mozzarella or pizza cheese blend
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature (optional)
1/4 cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano and/or Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350'F.

Unroll dough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets, gently stretching dough on each side.

In a skillet brown sausage until no longer pink and in crumbles. Add in garlic and mix around for about a 2 minutes.

Turn off heat and add to sausage, romano cheese, then mix around, then add 1 cup shredded mozzarella/pizza cheese blend and mix around.

Add in cream cheese in about 1 ounce pats so that it will be easier to mix and coat the sausage.

Split sausage and cheese mixture in half and place in middle of crescent dough leaving 1 inch untouched at ends, sprinkle on top of sausage mixture 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella/pizza cheese blend

Take one side of dough and stretch over meat mixture and do the same with other side of dough carefully not to rip dough. Fold open edges up and flip calzone over so that the double layer of dough is on bottom. (This will guarantee the dough to fully cook.)

Scoot over calzone to lay 2nd. sheet of crescent dough and do the same steps. (This will allow you to bake both on the same sheet at the same time.)

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown as pictured above. Let calzones set for about 10 minutes. Then cut with a sharp knife into strips and serve! You can serve with marinara sauce but these are so good by themselves and make a great party snack!

This is so easy to make and it's delicious. I hope to get your feedback if you ever make it.

Buon Appetito!

XOXO,
Annamaria