Pizza Pockets

This recipe was inspired by a recipe I saw at Tasty Kitchen. That recipe used homemade dough and some different ingredients... not quite my thing. This way, it's so simple you can whip it up for a weekend lunch!

Ingredients

1 tube of thin crust Pilsbury Pizza Dough

1/2 cup of pizza sauce

fresh mozzarella balls (Ciliegine)

shredded paremesan

2 T. butter, melted

garlic powder or garlic salt

Optional Ingredients; pepperoni, green peppers, ham, pineapple, any pizza topping!

**Ingredient Comments; This is a forgiving recipe! I used fresh mozzarella because we love it and always have it around. Shredded mozzarella or even mozzarella slices would work just as well. Same goes for the pizza sauce. We like the Contadina squeezable because it's easy to use and keeps well. If you don't have it available you can even use pasta sauce! And as far as toppings go, I'm not too adventurous. My husband likes pepperoni but my little guy and I are just cheese fans. I think you can really go wild here. How fun would little Hawaiian Pizza Pockets be (pineapple and ham, yum!)? Add whatever floats your boat!

Instructions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400/425 degrees, or whatever your dough requires. You're also going to want to use a little flour on your work surface so the dough doesn't stick.

2. Roll out the dough, dust it with a little flour on top as well, and be sure to stretch it out (use a rolling pin if necessary) so that's it's roughly uniform in thickness.

3. Use a pizza dough cutter to cut the dough in 8 sections. (See picture below.)


4. Top each piece of dough with the two cheeses, sauce and any toppings you may want to use. Go easy on the sauce so you don't have any explosions during cooking, you can always serve some sauce on the side for dipping.

5. You have a few options when it comes to closing up the pockets... I tried the pyramid method and the envelope method. (I totally made said methods up, I'm just calling it as I see it. Refer to the picture below.) However you close them up, be sure to pinch the seams so they seal tight. You'll also notice that you can make a small open-faced personal pizza as well. This was to satisfy my two year old who refuses to eat anything he can't see.

6. This last step is optional but I think gives it a little something extra. Melt 2 T. of butter and mix in some garlic or garlic salt. Using a pastry brush (or a spoon), coat each dough pocket with the mixture.

7. Bake according to the dough directions, however, I did find it necessary to go about 4 minutes longer than recommended. Just be sure to keep an eye on things while they're cooking!

And that's it!! Enjoy!