Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

I don't know about your family, but mine loves mozzarella cheese sticks...there's never any extras. To make these ones, we bought out the last string cheese in the commissary, and Mom looked in multiple stores to find eggs (a lot of stores in Russia are closed on January 2).

I'm so glad Damon was here for these. I don't actually like to fry things because the oil is so hot, but Damon volunteered before I even asked him! It's like he read my mind. Our cheese sticks were insanely melty, more like cheese piles than cheese sticks, so it was a mess to dip them in Mom's delicious homemade pizza sauce!

The original recipe uses panko bread crumbs, as they are more light and flaky. We didn't have any bread crumbs at all, so we just crumbled and toasted some regular wheat bread.

To make them real mozzarella cheese sticks, you have to use mozarrella cheese, of course. We just got whatever string cheese the commissary had left, and they turned out great!

Be careful not to get the oil too hot, otherwise they will burn. Ours took less than a minute in the oil, and the cheese melted fast, so our oil probably could have been cooler. It probably would have also helped if I had put the cheese sticks in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, but I was excited and we wanted to eat them as an appetizer and not after pizza!

I forgot to add the parsley flakes since we made our own bread crumbs, but they still tasted good.

This recipe got a definite yum!

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

Ingredients:

16 pieces string cheese, removed from wrappers

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 whole eggs

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

2 cups Panko bread crumbs

Canola oil, for frying

Marinara Sauce, for dipping

Directions:

1. Slice string cheese pieces in half, for a total of 32 pieces.

2. Place flour in a small bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and milk.

4. In another separate bowl, combine panko bread crumbs with parsley flakes.

5. One by one, roll mozzarella sticks in flour, then dunk in egg/milk mixture, then place in panko crumbs. Use your hand to sweep crumbs all over the mozzarella stick. Gently remove and place on a tray or cookie sheet. Repeat until all mozzarella sticks are coated.

6. Place tray in freezer for 20 to 30 minutes to flash freeze.

7. Heat 1 1/2 inches canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add mozzarella sticks 8 at a time. Watch closely and turn over to evenly brown, cooking less than 2 minutes. Do not allow cheese to bubble and leak.

8. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Serve immediately with warm marinara sauce.

Recipe from: http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2010/05/panko-mozzarella-sticks/