Homemade Hot Pockets with 16 basic ingredients, not 56

Hot pockets, fresh from the box and microwaved in their little cardboard containers live ambivalently in my memory. I lusted after them as a teenager but immediately regretted eating them after the biologically programmed desire for salt and fat wore off and my body tried to schlogg through 56 ingredients lovingly mixed by a machine.

Take a peak at the picture below, a poster by graphic designer Jason Perricone via Huffington Post. I think I counted 56 ingredients in the standard ham and cheese hot pocket.

Gross I say. Gross.

Recently, my cravings for hot cheese and meat in a pocket called like a siren from my past, and I embarked on a journey to make my own. Tonight, alongside fresh orange slices, we yummed down homemade turkey, Havarti and cheddar hot pockets. I want to share my recipe with you.

This makes 5 large or 6 smaller hot pockets and they reheat nicely. The dough takes five minutes to make, anywhere from 20-60 minutes to rise, depending on how much time you want to give it, twenty minutes to fill with good things, and ten minutes to bake. So, 25 minutes active time, 30 minutes inactive.

If you worry you are too busy to commit the time, you might surprise yourself if you try. My oldest had a church activity this evening, and after I put in a day of work I walked a mile to church (and another mile back) with my two other children and still managed to make dinner and eat it by 6:00.

Ingredients:

For the dough

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 packet yeast

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried dill

1 cup warm water

1 generous tablespoon olive oil

Pinch salt and pepper

For the Interior

Deli turkey, from a good deli (not plastic container from Wal-Mart turkey)

Dill Havarti Cheese (I used Denmark's Finest)

Sharp cheddar cheese (I like Tillamook)

1 avocado, sliced thin

1 tomato, sliced thin

Using an electric stand mixer, combine all the dry ingredients for the dough, attach dough hook and start stirring the dry ingredients on low setting while adding, slowly, the cup of warm water. Make sure it is not hot water, as scalding water that burns your finger will kill your yeast. Allow the dough hook to mix until your dough is together and form a coherent ball. Slightly sticky is OK. Coat the ball of dough with the olive oil, cover it with a dish towel, and allow it to rise in a warm place from 20 minutes to 1 hour. If you are short on time, 20 minutes is just fine. Tonight ours rose for an hour and it seemed to be more supple after baking and less chewy, something I liked. 

When you are ready to start assembly, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. After your dough has risen, flatten it out on a cookie sheet or stone with your hands. it will be slightly sticky, be careful not to mash it too thin so it starts to tear apart. Cut into 5 or 6 sections. Start layering each piece with the interior ingredients. I put down a slice of Havarti cheese, two slices of deli turkey, three slivers of avocado, three slivers of tomato and ended with a slice of sharp cheddar. Carefully fold your dough over the top of the ingredients, spreading and pinching until it is all encompassed in a pocket-like item. It might not be pretty, but it will be yummy. Try not to leave any holes.

I like to sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper over the tops of the pockets before baking them for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. Sometimes the cheese finds a way to spill out onto the cookie sheet, but when I take them out it makes a nice treat for the cook!