pizza pockets

Someone gave me an interesting kitchen device months ago that sat around because I was too lazy to find a use for it.  I can't seem to remember the name of it, but it's one of these things that will make a little pocket for you--pushes down the edges to close it.  I was making pizza tonight, as I do once a week or so on nights when I just want to do something easy that I can do without thinking.  To make it more exciting for Elijah (my almost 3 year old), I decided to make "pizza pockets."  Kill two birds with one stone, right??  That way I could engage him, AND use that nifty tool I got! :)

First I made some dough:

quick dough

3 cups flour (I used half enriched white, half whole wheat)
2 tsp. yeast
2 TBS oil
1 cup warm (110 degrees) water
1 tsp. salt

combine all ingredients until mixed (simple as that!)

Then I rolled out the dough and made a little circle where I would be cutting.  Using that as a guide, I put sauce, cheese, and then pepperoni/chicken on top.

I then put another piece of dough over this and used my nifty cutting/closing tool--tada! Cute little pizza pockets. 

Some of them I poked holes into the top, some of them I greased on the top.  It didn't seem to  make a difference really in the taste or browning.

I think they were in between 10 and 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

After I made them, I looked up online to see what other people had done.  I found out that I can do the same thing but FREEZE the creation, pre-baking, and then take them out when I want to eat them.  For frozen pockets, bake for 30 minutes, for thawed pockets, 20 minutes (still 400 degree oven).  The website I saw suggested first freezing them separately on a cookie sheet for 1 hour.  After that, you can just take them off the sheet and put them into a freezer bag until you want to use them.

So fun!

Elijah thought they were really fun, and was motivated to actually eat them because of how neat they were.  I hope you have good luck with them too! :D