Baked Mozzarella Sticks - Take 1

Today's food experiment was baked mozzarella sticks, since they're one of Nathan's favorite appetizers and I saw a recipe for them on Pinterest. My recipe is slightly modified from one that I originally found here.

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Ingredients
- string cheese (as many as you want, up to 12 sticks)
- cooking spray
- 5 Tbs flour
- 1 egg
- 5 Tbs bread crumbs
- 2 Tbs Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 Tbs Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Cut string cheese in half. Freeze the halves until completely frozen.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
3. Measure out the flour in a small bowl/dish.
4. In a second small bowl/dish, beat the egg.
5. In a third small bowl/dish, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning.
6. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil or parchment paper. If using foil, be sure to spray it with cooking spray to avoid sticking.
7. Once the cheese is frozen, bread it by spraying it with cooking spray, then dipping it into the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs.
8. Bake at 400 F for about 4-6 minutes or until crisp. Keep a close eye on them to ensure they don't melt completely.

Serve with marinara sauce (if you prefer). These aren't as good leftover, but it's easy to throw them together in a few minutes, especially if you freeze the cheese ahead of time.

I personally could not get these to bread with a very thick layer of breading. As a result, they were okay but not fantastic. I will make some modifications to the recipe and try again over the next few days... I'll keep you posted on how this experiment turns out!