Baked Mozzarella-Spinach Rounds

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Zest the lemon, lime and orange. Divide each pile of zest in half (you’ll use half of the zests for the appetizer and half for the dipping sauce).

Drain the thawed spinach in a colander in the sink. You want it nice and dry. Once it’s drained put it in a bowl lined with paper towels and set aside.

In a mixing bowl add cream cheese, olive oil, grated onion (use a cheese grater to carefully to grate onion), black pepper and mozzarella cheese and mix well with a wooden spoon to incorporate all ingredients. Add the well-drained spinach and mix, mix, mix together. Add half of the fruit zest and fold it into the mixture.

On a platter/dish add seasoned breadcrumbs. Using a small scoop or teaspoon, scoop some of the spinach mixture and drop it in the breadcrumbs. Roll it around to coat it then place it on a non-stick 9 x 12 rimmed baking sheet (you will need several baking pans). Repeat until you’ve used all of the spinach mixture (leave a little space between each, probably around 15-20 rounds per pan). Place pans in the oven at 400 F and bake for 15 minutes.

For the dipping sauce: In a bowl add heavy cream, sour cream, juice from lemon, lime and orange and the other half of the zests. Using a hand mixer on low speed mix for several minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate before serving.

Note: You can freeze these once they are baked.