Mommy's Hot Pockets

My kids love those store bought pockets with eggs and cheese or pepperoni and cheese in them. I bought them once years ago and they ask me every time I go shopping to get more. The problem is the price and the lack of nutrition, I just can't put them in my cart again.

So I have been searching and trying recipes so that I can find one that is easy and freezes so on school mornings or afternoons I can pop them in the oven and have a quick, healthy meal for the kids and myself.

I love the mommysavers site. It has lots of great recipes and I peruse them weekly. A few weeks back I found this pocket recipe and finally had time to try it this morning. Admittedly it took me much longer than I had hoped (but I had an awesome almost 5 year old helper) and we ate them for 'brunch'. YUMMO!

I am not good at wrapping things so instead of her neat pirogi style I folded each pocket burrito style. It worked and held together nicely. There was about twice as much 'crust' on the bottom as on the top, but it was fully cooked after only 20 minutes and very tasty.

The great thing about this recipe is that it is mucho tweakable, AND it makes a ton. I made kid sized pockets they were little 2x4 inch rectangles. I used only half the dough and came up with 16 pockets. I put the rest of the dough in the fridge and will make pizza tonight with it. I ran out of the egg mixture after about 12 pockets and then I put pepperoni and cheese and sauce in the last 4. I can use those for after school snacks. I want to make some chicken and veggie ones next time. I think they will work out nicely.


Pocket recipe:
1 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons molasses (I used honey)
2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Put on dough cycle in the bread machine.

Filling:
1 small bag of frozen hash browns
6 slices bacon
1 cup diced ham
6 eggs
3 green onions
1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

(You may add other fillings for lunch or dinner pockets. I use pepperoni and cheese, chicken with broccoli and cheese and a big slew of different ones for my family)

This recipe made 11 really BIG (adult sized) breakfast pockets so you could divide the dough even smaller for munchkin sized ones.

I had my bacon already cooked so all I had to do was fry the hash browns and scramble the eggs. Mix everything except the cheese together and let cool. Once cool mix in the cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Divide dough into sections. Roll until about the size of a pita it will be VERY thin. Brush dough with melted butter and put approximately 1/2 c. of filling in the middle (I used a 1/4 cup for the kid sized ones). Now bring up both the sides and pinch together. It will look kind of like a big pirogi laying on it's back. Gently turn it over into your hand and place on greased baking sheet pinched side down. Tuck the ends under.

Let rise for 10-15 minutes. Mine didn't look like they changed shape at all, but I let the yeast do it's thing anyway...

Bake at 375 for 25minutes

Remove from oven and brush tops with melted butter and I sprinkled mine with fresh cracked pepper and cracked sea salt.

Move to cooling wrack so that they don't get soggy.

When cooled wrap in paper towel and put in a freezer bag.

TO HEAT:
Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes