Summary

Prep: 10 mins
Cooking: 15 mins
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Easy peasy
Makes: 12 pizza hearts

You can make these pizza hearts into a great activity to enjoy with the kids on special occasions or for Valentines day. They will LOVE helping cut out the little heart shapes, and they’ll enjoy making their own pizza toppings even more.

Bring a selection of toppings in small bowl to the table and let kids decorate their mini pizzas on their own.

Some ideas are: olives, red peppers, sweetcorn, pineapple pieces and mushrooms. If they enjoy hams or meat on their pizza you can also have some slices of proscuitto, pepperoni, cooked chicken or beef salami.

You would be surprised how many healthy topping kids choose when they get a chance to personalise their own pizza.

So start with a tablespoon of passata spread over the dough, followed by their chosen pizza toppings, and then with the grated cheeses. We recommend having two kinds of cheese for the final topping, mozzarella and cheddar. Add a final garnish and it’s good to go.

For our recipe we had a passata base, chopped spinach centre, cheese topping and a little slice of tomato to garnish.

If you’re worried about adding spinach because your kids tend to pick out anything green, then we would recommend the ultimate hidden veggie trick. Instead of adding the chopped spinach, blend a bit of the spinach with the tomato passata and then spread that on the base before the cheese. They’ll get a bit of spinach without the mealtime battles.

These pizza hearts also have some great health benefits. Mozzarella and cheddar cheese are a good source of calcium for kids, and tomatoes are full of lypocene, a powerful antioxidant. If you choose to do add spinach it’s also packed with nutrients including vitamins K and A as well as fibre, vitamin B1, zinc and protein. It’s helps that the spinach is on a pizza when you’re trying to get kids to eat some!

Ingredients

Pizza dough:

• 375 grams of plain flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 200 mls of warm water

You’ll need a heart shaped cookie cutter or sharp knife to make the heart shapes.

Toppings:

• 200 ml passata
• 200 grams cheddar cheese, grated
• 200 grams mozzarella cheese, grated
• 20 grams spinach, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes sliced

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, maple syrup, olive oil and warm water. Knead gently until just combined.
3. Spread the dough out on a floured work surface using a rolling pin.
4. Cut heart shapes out of the dough with a heart shaped cookie cutter or a kitchen knife.
5. Spread a tablespoon of passata across the base of each pizza heart.
6. Add your chosen toppings including your cheeses. We have put some chopped spinach with grated cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, topped with a slice of fresh tomato.
7. Bake on the top shelf for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Enjoy!

Pizza hearts – our step by step guide:

Make your pizza dough

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Place your flour, salt, maple syrup, olive oil and warm water into a mixing bowl.

Mix it all together with a spoon, and then knead gently with your hands, but only to combine all the ingredients.

This is a yeast free dough, so there’s no need to knead the dough vigorously.

We’re just looking for everything to come together in a smooth elastic pizza dough.

Spread the dough out on a floured work surface using a rolling pin to gently flatten it.

Cut out your heart shapes using a heart shaped cookie cutter. Kids will love to help with this step!

If you don’t have a cookie cutter then you can also use a knife to make the shapes.

It still works well, but if you use a knife an adult should do this step.

Now all you have to do is put your chosen toppings on!

Our toppings

Start with a basic passata.

Spoon a small amount onto the pizzas and spread it around with the back of a spoon.

Leave a small border for the crust.

Add your chopped spinach, followed by the grated mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.

Top your mini pizzas off with a fresh tomato slice.

Put it all in the oven and bake it on the top shelf for about 12-15 minutes.

Remove when golden and enjoy your pizza hearts!

Make a whole batch for family dinner or for a kids get together.