{Recipe Alert} Allergy Free Veggie Calzones

When I was in college, I would eat a calzone a day. I’m not even kidding. There was this pizza place a few blocks away from me that served the most garlicky, calzoney (my new word) deliciousness that I can’t even begin to describe. My roommate and I would order them almost every night and devour them while working on our late night design projects.

I can still almost taste the big gobs of cheese and crust that I’d dip into the garlicky pizza sauce – yeah there was a lot of garlic floating around in this calzone and I loved it.

But now that I can’t eat gluten and stick to a vegan diet during the week, calzones are a far away memory.

Sometimes though, I can’t help but crave them and wish I could eat them every day again (without consequences like in college – didn’t gain any weight, didn’t get sick.. I was so lucky back then!).

So I decided I create an allergy free and vegan version of calzones to tide me over. They aren’t a perfect match to College Pizza’s wonderfulness, but they sure to help my cravings.

This recipe is:

• Dairy Free
• Egg Free
• Fish Free
• Gluten Free
• Peanut Free
• Shellfish Free
• Soy Free
• Vegan

Allergy Free & Vegan Veggie Calzones
Prep Time: 4 hrs (for cashew cheese) & 25min / Cook Time: 20-25min
Makes: 2 calzones / 4 servings

Crust Ingredients:

• 3/4c rice flour
• 1/4c + 2tbsp potato starch
• 2tbsp tapioca starch
• 1tbsp Italian spices
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1tsp Xanthan gum
• 1 1/4tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4tsp lemon juice
• 1tbsp olive oil + some to coat
• 1/3c rice milk or another milk substitute
• 2 egg replacers

Calzone “Inside” Ingredients:

• 1/2c raw cashews
• Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
• 3/4tsp salt
• Water
• 2c Dairy Mozzarella Cheese or another cheese substitute
• Veggies of your choice (or you can go sans veggies – I used sliced mushrooms and onions)

First, make the cashew cheese. Place your cashews in a medium bowl and cover with water. Let sit for 4hrs until softened. Strain the water from the cashews and place in a food processor. Add the lemon juice and salt and blend until you have a creamy texture. It it’s too thick add a little water. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 400F. In a large bowl combine all of the dry ingredients for the calzone crust. Whisk together to combine. Add in all other ingredients and mix until a dough forms. The dough will be slightly sticky. If the dough is too sticky to form into a ball, then add more rice flour or add sweet rice flour/sorghum flour to soak up some of the excess moisture.

Roll the dough into two evenly sized balls. Using your rolling pin, or your hands, flatten the balls and roll them until you have approx 1/4″ thick circles. Place on your sheet pans.

In a medium bowl combine the Daiya Cheese, Cashew Cheese, and the Veggies (optional). Mix until combined. Place an even amount of the cheese mixture in the middle of each dough circle on your sheet pan. If you have a lot of veggies, you may have some of the cheese mixture leftover, but that’s okay, you can use it for a pizza or to top on pasta, or anything else throughout the week.

Fold up the sides of the dough and pinch closed so your cheese mixture is encased in the center. Brush the top with olive oil and place in the oven and bake approx 20-25min until browned.

Serve and dip into your garlicky tomato sauce to enjoy!