Kids Week: Homemade Hot Pockets

Okay, I have a confession to make. Yeah, yeah, I’m all Miss I-Do-This-Whole-Food-Blogging-Thing and I really do love to cook. But I hate, hate, hate (I’m THRICE using the word “hate” here) figuring out what to feed my kids for lunch.

I found out I was pregnant with my son right after I graduated from college, so up until that point, I had always either taken leftovers to school/work for lunch or I just got something to eat on campus. So after he was born and particularly once he started eating, like, REAL people food, lunch became something I dreaded, particularly since he was (and still is, but not as bad as he used to be) an extremely picky eater. PB&J, mac and cheese, and the occasional chicken nuggets made me feel really guilty, and since I usually eat what my kids are eating, I got really sick of the usual toddler rotation.

Well, I was asked to bring a snack for his class at church. Because they ate their snacks at kind of an awkward time, I wanted to make sure they were getting enough “good stuff” to last them another couple of hours until lunchtime, but I also wanted it to be kid-friendly. I set out to make filled breadsticks, but they actually came out more like Hot Pockets. And since I find the idea of Hot Pockets ingenious, but the actual Hot Pockets themselves vile and unfit for human consumption, I fell in love with the idea of having these in my freezer and then being able to heat them up for a quick lunch. And Mr. Pickypants? He loves these, too.

I filled these ones with ham and cheddar, but you could do any other kid-friendly combo. For grown-ups, you could do steamed broccoli, Italian dressing-marinated and grilled chicken, and mozzarella cheese or roast beef and Swiss. You can also add salad dressings in there for flavor but quite honestly, I’ve tried it a couple of times and the dressing seems to get lost in the sandwich somewhere. If you love the idea of using some kind of dressing or condiment, I think you’re better off dipping the sandwich after it’s been baked.

Now…the OTHER thing I love (but didn’t have a chance to make) is breakfast pockets. They’re pretty much individual servings of Sara’s Easy Breakfast Crescent Braid, only you roll it up the way I’ll show you here. Basically, instead of ham and cheese, layer some almost-completely cooked scrambled eggs, cooked bacon or sausage, shredded cheddar, and then bake it up. I can’t tell you HOW many times I made a PB&J for my son to eat for breakfast (shut it…he can’t take cereal in the car! 🙂 ) on the way to preschool only to find that he’d pulled the bread apart, licked the peanut butter off, and had jam all over his hands and peanut butter all over his face. The breakfast pockets, on the other hand, can’t be quite so easily dissembled so the tastiest portions can be removed.

Homemade Hot Pockets

1 recipe Breadstick and Pizza Dough

Desired fillings (I used about 6-8 oz. of ham and 4-6 oz. sharp cheddar)

Prepare dough through the first rise. After dough has risen the first time, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle, probably about 16×8 inches big (16 inches long, 8 inches tall).

Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into 8 equal portions.

Leaving a little bit of a “margin” on the right and left sides, add toppings with the cheese going on last. Stretch the dough out a little to give yourself a bit more dough to work with. Fold the left side over the middle and then the right side over that. Starting at the bottom of the “mummy,” tightly roll the filled dough, stretching it very gently as you go to make sure you’re getting a tight seal. Place on a sprayed cookie sheet and repeat with remaining dough. When finished, cover the pan with a clean cloth and preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
When oven has heated, bake pockets for about 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. For shine, you could brush the tops with a bit of egg white mixed with water during the last 5 minutes of baking, or you could rub a little butter on top of the rolls while they’re still hot.

And honestly, these are just as good not-hot as they are straight from the oven, so if you or your honey are looking for something to take to work and eat for lunch but don’t have access to a microwave, these will still be pretty darn good!

FREEZER INSTRUCTIONS:

Bake according to directions and allow to cool. Place in a Ziploc freezer bag, squeezing out all the air. When ready to serve, just pop in the microwave for 2-3 minutes (depending on how fast your microwave cooks).

Homemade Hot Pockets
Recipe by Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

1 recipe Breadstick and Pizza Dough

Desired fillings (I used about 6-8 oz. of ham and 4-6 oz. sharp cheddar)

When the oven has heated, bake pockets for about 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. For shine, you could brush the tops with a bit of egg white mixed with water during the last 5 minutes of baking, or you could rub a little butter on top of the rolls while they’re still hot.

FREEZER INSTRUCTIONS:

Other Posts from Kids Week:
Hand-Tossed Ice Cream
Frozen Pudding Pops
Edible Playdough and Finger Paint
Giveaway

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Comments

Steph says:

Yum yum! And what a cute helper you've got there 🙂

jjnhubbs says:

This is brilliant! I'm going to make these over the weekend!

Lund Family says:

I am so excited to try this. Thanks KAte!

The Edwards Family says:

I love this idea. They'll be great for school lunches this fall.

Jenny says:

i really like cooking, but i dread making lunch, too. thanks for a great idea.

Mary Kelly says:

I love that one day of labored cooking = a week, at least, of tasty lunches ready to go in the freezer. Thanks for the great idea with lots and lots of variety.

alisha says:

For the life of me, I cant figure out how to make any kind of homemade dough come out right, I will be making these with Pillsbury biscuit dough. 🙂

Brooke says:

This looks super good, and my kids love stuff like this! Thanks for the great recipe.

betchacanteatjustone says:

Anything i can make ahead of time and pop in the freezer for the daycare lunches is a good idea 🙂 I'll put some of these together this weekend and see how it goes!

Katie

Jennifer says:

I've made something like this with pepperoni and mozzarella (a bit like stromboli?). The ham and cheese ones I've made with bread dough which I don't particularly love so I can't wait to try the pizza dough! Oh we ventured out on our own with banana-pb-chocolate pudding pops and lemon-strawberry pudding pops. Both were not too bad. Thanks for the inspiration!!!

Sarah says:

Sounds like a great lunch for my husband to take to work too! Thanks.

Jess says:

I think I'll add the kids initials to these (dough, on top). Anything with their initials, they'll at least try.

And, AMEN to the hot pockets comment. I remember being so upset that my mom wouldn't buy them. I thought they would be SO good. Then, I tried one. Gag! It amazes me that they sell enough of them to actually keep making them.

Andrea says:

I'm with you on the lunch dilemna! I'll think we'll have to try these.

roxanne says:

AMEN to hating lunch time! Seriously, it is my biggest challenge. Thanks for this, it looks so tasty!

Denise @ Life on Stepping Stone Lane says:

These look delish!! I will make these for my family, for sure!!!

Sarah says:

Perfect for having the kids help out with! They can do the messy stuffing!

Krista says:

Lunch is hard enough just for me! I'm not quite ready to thinking about feeding 2 more little mouths 🙂

But as always, these look super yummy!

Pam says:

These look easy to make (especially with a bread machine!) and would be yummy too. My 3 year old could even help with them! Great idea!

melacan at hotmail dot com

Joy says:

I also dread lunch time for my toddler & myself. These will be great to keep in the freezer with our mini meatballs & sausage balls.

Leigh says:

Can't wait to try them out on the family! I can even envision a dessert version with a fruity filling and a cream cheese glaze…

shayla says:

Once I get over my fear of using anything involving yeast, I will definitely give these a go!

The Amoah-Boadi Family says:

i can't wait to give these a try. I am also completely clueless what to do for lunches ( poor kid) i'm this will help 🙂

teeny says:

great kate! did clark help[ you put them together before eating? cute!

love

MommytoTommy says:

Yum!! I have to try these!

Jeff, Jenny and Pearl says:

These look fabulous! I pack lunches everyday for my family and we all get so sick of sandwiches but these look yummy! And just different enough that I think we will all enjoy them.

Erin says:

Genius! I'll definitely have to try these babies out. My 18 month old isn't really a picky eater, but has the same tendency as yours – pull apart the PB&J to get the good stuff. And as for my hubby – those days of "I'll just run to Sonic for lunch" are OVER! Homemade Hot Pockets – HERE WE COME!

Kara says:

What a good idea. Dale loves hot pockets, and Will is loving ham right now, so between the two of them, I'm sure these would get eaten! Thanks Kate!

Sarah says:

Breakfast is actually the hardest meal for my kiddos–so I love, love, love (yes–thrice 'love), the thought of PBJ for b-fast!! GENIUS!

Carolyn says:

Yum! I hate hate hate lunch time too. We will definitely be using this recipe!

Julie says:

Oh my goodness, those look good. If it wasn't 10pm I would get started on a batch. I, too, like the idea of Hot Pockets but not the nastiness that is the commercial ones. This would also be perfect for my picky hubby who doesn't do sandwiches, or leftovers, for lunch but loves Hot Pockets.

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