Baked Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

My kiddos love mozzarella cheese sticks! We order them a lot as an appetizer when we eat out. Which honestly, with three kids and a dutch husband is not very much. =) So I decided to start making these at home. I have both fried and baked them. They are more decadent fried but still have great crispiness when baked. Since my kids request them often I usually bake them. Less mess to clean up and healthier for my kids. I serve them with marinara or ranch.

Ingredients:

• 12 Mozzarella cheese sticks (the individually wrapped kind for snacking)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 egg whites, whipped until very soft peaks
• 1 cup panko crumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian Blend Dried Herbs (oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, and sage)
• non-stick cooking spray                                                                                                                                                                                       

    Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unwrap cheese and cut in half if desired. Make a bowl for the flour. Whip the egg whites until they have soft peaks and leave them in a bowl. Then combine panko, garlic powder, and dried herbs in another bowl. Dip the cheese in the flour, then the egg whites and then roll in the panko. Try to press the panko on the cheese stick to make it adhere better. 
Place the cheese sticks on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. After all the cheese sticks have been made, Spray more non-stick spray on top of them, lightly, to help browning.

Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 15- 20 minutes. Serve with marinara.

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