Name: Homemade Pizza Pockets
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 18
Ingredients: For the Dough:; 2 Eggland’s Best Eggs; ¾ cup milk; ½ tsp minced garlic; 3 cups all-purpose flour; ½ cup grated parmesan cheese; ½ tsp salt; 1 ½ tbsp baking powder; 1 tsp Italian seasoning; ½ cup cold salted butter (1 stick) (cubed); For the filling:; 1 14 oz jar pizza sauce; 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese; 18 slices pepperoni; 1 cup cooked and crumbled sausage; Optional crust topping:; ½ cup salted butter (1 stick) (melted); 1 tbsp dried parsley

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Back-to-School

In my quest to get my head back into the ‘back-to-school’ routine, I got a headstart on making a bunch of after-school snacks that can be frozen and reheated. Of course, I like them own lunch too! This time, I set about making my own homemade pizza pockets. Honestly, I was kinda impressed at how well they turned out. Nothing beats homemade, right? I am not that great of a baker. Just keeping it real here. It doesn’t come naturally to me, so I was worried about how well I could manage a good dough that is soft and has good flavor.

Flavorful homemade pizza dough

So I took my homemade pizza dough recipe and tweaked it a bit. Did you know that adding eggs to dough makes it softer? That’s why when you are making a pie crust, you just add oil or butter. That keeps it flaky and butter-y. But when you want a soft and fluffy-type of dough, you need to add eggs. So, of course, I went with my favorite Eggland’s Best eggs and didn’t use just one egg – I used two! I figured, if I was gonna go through all this trouble to make a homemade dough, I better add some nutrition to it. Good for the kiddos (and Momma too!)

Add in some nutrition

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know Eggland’s Best eggs are the only eggs I use now. These aren’t your ordinary eggs. They stay fresher longer than ordinary eggs. They have double the Omega 3’s, 10x more Vitamin E, 25% less saturated fat, 5x more Vitamin D, and more Vitamin B12 and Lutein compared to ordinary eggs! It’s such an easy way to add healthy protein to our diets without any extra fuss. I’m adding nutrition in these pizza pockets and it tastes good!

The best way to do this is to make a whole bunch of these at a time. If you are gonna make a mess, you might as well get yourself stocked up for the next couple of months. Do it on a day where you can spend a couple of hours getting them all made. Then pack them into freezer-safe zip bags. Don’t pack too many into one bag. Allow them to cool, then pack 5 or 6 into one gallon-size bag. These are so incredibly good that they don’t have to just be an after-school snack. They could be eaten for dinner on those busy weeknights. They heat up in the microwave (from frozen) in about a minute!

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

2 Eggland’s Best eggs

¾ cup milk

½ tsp. minced garlic

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. Italian Seasoning

½ cup (one stick) cold salted butter, cubed

For the filling:

1 (14 oz.) jar pizza sauce

1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese

18 pepperoni slices

1 cup cooked and crumbled sausage

Optional crust topping:

½ cup (one stick) salted butter, melted

1 tbsp. dried parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450f degrees. Spray two baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray (or line with parchment paper.) In a bowl, whisk together Eggland’s Best eggs, milk and garlic.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, parmesan cheese, salt, baking powder and Italian seasoning.

Using a fork or a pastry blender, begin cutting in the cubed butter into the flour mixture until no large clumps remain.

Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Mix until dough comes together into a loose ball. To make this easier, use an electric mixture with a dough attachment. Dump the dough ball onto a large, floured countertop.

Knead the dough ten times (turning it over onto itself and turning 90 degrees.) Add additional flour as necessary to keep it from sticking.

Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to ½-inch thickness.

Take a 3-inch biscuit cutter (or similar size glass or bowl), cut out all the dough into circles.

After cutting out the circles, press them down slightly to make them a bit larger and to make room for fillings. Place the crust circles on prepared baking sheets.

Spoon a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto the middle of the dough circles. Then add a tablespoon of shredded cheese, a slice of pepperoni and a tablespoon of crumbled sausage.

Carefully fold the crust in half and press together the edges. Take a fork and go around the edges to make sure they seal closed.

If necessary, dab a little water on your fingers to help seal the edges closed.

Bake at 450f degrees for 13-15 minutes until crust is lightly browned. Continue until all pizza pockets are made. Brush tops of warm pizza pockets with melted butter and dried parsley.

Serve with warmed pizza sauce for dipping.

Enjoy!