7 year old boy approved!

Today it's cold and rainy... but I'm dreaming of a warm sunny cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean serving up... Arancini - aka Italian Rice Balls. Sure I found a recipe to fry them - which is fine but I'm not good at it. I’m too impatient and not good at frying things. I saw that these you bake, and use rice... not special rice... just rice. I used minute rice because that's easy. I also sauteed mushrooms and onions to go inside. I had fresh parsley from the garden because that lives on after the froze with amazing vigor.
The most tricky part of these rice balls is forming them. My other recipe you make almost a risotto, and the rice is so creamy and forms into a ball nicely, this recipe not so much. I ended up squishing my rice ball into an ice cream scoop, then plopping it out onto parchment then freezing for a while. That made it very easy to flour, egg, and bread crumb the outside. I also did not turn mine in the oven... they would have fallen apart... so I just baked them until they were golden brown and delicious. Served them with pasta and sauce so we had sauce to dip them in - SO good. Nicholas even had leftovers the next day - guess that means they are 7 year old boy approved!

Baked Italian Rice Balls
Ingredients
1 cup cooked rice, (keep the rice moist and warm to use)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
1 egg to blend in rice.
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, fresh if you have. or 1 Tablespoon dried
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Optional: You can add other ingredients as you like such as caramelized onions, mushrooms, etc.
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

For Coating:
1 large egg, beaten, can add 1-2 Tablespoons water, cream, half and half or milk
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs, regular breadcrumbs, mixed with cornflake crumbs or cracker crumbs – whatever small crumbs you have will work

Sauce for dipping or pouring over your Italian rice balls

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Set out 3 individual plates or low, flat bowls. Place flour, beaten egg, and crumbs each with its own plate or bowl.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine rice, mozzarella, Parmesan, herbs, one egg and salt and pepper, mixing well. If you’re adding meat, spinach, veggies, you can put them in the center and wrap around with rice mixture or blend all together as you prefer.
4. Take up a meatball size amount of mixture and roll in your hand to form Italian rice balls the size you like. We make them around 2 inches. You can make them smaller if they’re going to be baked arancini appetizers or a snack.
5. Roll the balls in the flour, egg, then breadcrumbs, in that order. Make sure you cover them entirely with each ingredient.6. Place Italian rice balls on a greased or nonstick sprayed baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F for about 8-10 minutes until you can see them browning. Timing depends on your oven and the size of your Italian rice balls.
7. Turn over and bake for another 7-8 minutes or until all golden brown.