Love the convenience of hot pockets but don’t want the side effects of all the fat and preservatives found in the frozen variety? Make your own at home with just a few simple ingredients. These little pies are perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I like to make a large batch and freeze most of them so my husband has a ready-made healthy lunch in a pinch. Here’s what you need:
1. Dough. Use a frozen or pre-made dough from your local grocery store, or make your own at home. For this batch, I made my own dough using my favorite pizza dough recipe.
2. Filling. Use your imagination! Ham and cheese, veggies and cheese, corn beef and sauerkraut, bacon and eggs, pizza toppings….you get the idea. Today I made a simple cheese sauce and added cooked, diced ham and steamed broccoli.
These two ingredients are all you really need to make simple hot pockets. If your tastes are more gourmet, use fancier ingredients and make your own dough and filling. If you don’t have much time on your hands, use a pre-made dough and throw in some deli meat and cheese. It’s your choice. Here’s how I made hot pockets today.
Dough
2 1/4 tsp. Yeast
1 tsp. Sugar
1 cup Warm Water
1 tsp. Salt
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
2 1/2 cups Flour
Mix Yeast, Sugar, and Water together in a large bowl. Let stand 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and knead for 5 minutes. Cover and let rest for 1 hour. Divide into 4 or 6 little balls, and roll each ball into an 8 inch circle.
Filling
1/2 of a medium Onion, diced
2 tbsp. Butter
2 tbsp. Flour
1 cup Milk
1 cup Cheddar Cheese
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
Saute Onion in Butter until translucent. Add Flour and cook about two minutes, making a roux. Gradually add Milk, Salt, and Pepper. Stir until thickened. Remove from heat and add Cheese.
To this basic cheese sauce I added leftover diced ham and steamed broccoli. But only because that’s what I had on hand. Use what you have and what you like! To make 1 hot pocket, take about 1/2-3/4 cup of your filling (if it’s liquid; otherwise, as much as you want) and spread it on one half of your dough circle. Fold the other half over the top, pinch the seams together, and there you have it! Make sure you pinch the seams really well – you don’t want your filling to leak out. Transfer to a greased cookie sheet and repeat as necessary. I like to brush mine with egg wash to keep the crust nice and crisp. Just beat 1 egg with a tablespoon of water, and brush over the top of the hot pocket.
Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, or until brown on top and firm on the bottom. If your filling is very liquid-y, it might take a little longer.
To freeze, allow to cool on the counter top for an hour, then freeze on cookie sheets. After they are frozen solid, individually wrap in tin foil, label, date and return to freezer. VOILA! Home-made hot pockets. Enjoy!
