Pocket Sandwich and Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Stuffed Pretzel Class with the Ladies

Today I had the chance to do a personal cooking coaching session with Emily . She did a giveaway on her blog a few months back for the class, and we just this week got to do it. Emily's co-class winner was one of her blog readers named Kim who has the joy of having nine children in her home. Kim was in need of some practical kid friendly and fun foods she and her children could make. So...we set to work making pocket sandwiches for lunches and stuffed pretzels for snacks.

The first thing you need to know is that we used my recipe for Oven rise pizza dough . We used whole wheat flour and increased the water by 1/2 cup.  The good thing about that dough is that if you choose not to bake the pretzels or sandwiches right away, you can also put them uncooked in the freezer on a plastic lined sheet pan until frozen. They go directly from the freezer to the oven on a lightly oiled pan and bake like "oven rise" pizza...but they're pretzels and pocket sandwiches. Pretty ding-a-dang-dong handy dandy if you ask me. Whole grain, made at home and low fat?! Yup. We're pretty happy about that. 

First up, we made some 

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Stuffed Pretzels.  

Using half of the Oven rise pizza dough

Roll a rectangle, 2 feet by 18 inches, about 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured board or counter top.

Cut strips of dough the entire length of the dough, about finger width apart.

I used 3/4 cup homemade Freezer Jam
Putting the entire contents in a pastry bag, put a line of jam right down the middle of the pretzel. This also works for peanut butter...almost any soft spread. Top with chocolate chunks.

I have to say that Kim and Emily were complete "naturals" at this dough pinching stuff. Be so impressed.

I showed how to form pretzels here on my blog during the 

Vegan Soft Pretzel Tutorial

Once formed, place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Allow to raise about 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake  12-15 minutes.

 While still warm, sift a hearty layer of powdered sugar on them if desired. OH...we desired.

 Would you care to crack on open?

Note to self. When I make these again I will use the  chocolate bread recipe. I think they would be divine. Oh so divine. 

The next thing we made where ham and cheese sandwich pockets with mustard.

Take 1/4 batch of the oven rise pizza dough and roll it out in a rectangle 24 inches by 12 inches, very thin.

Top with 1 lb of diced ham, divided between six squares you cut out of the dough. Drizzle the ham with mustard. Top with a large slice of mozzarella or Monterrey Jack cheese. Pull the dough up around the filling and pinch closed very tightly at the seams.

I think they've got it!

Place seam side down on a lightly oiled sheet pan.  Raise 30 minutes.

Bake 350 degrees 30 minutes.

Pizza pockets use 1/4 oven rise pizza dough recipe, rolling out the same way you would for the ham pockets.   Use a Tablespoon of spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce right in the middle.

Cut the cheese. Look...Emily is really good at it. Why this made me laugh so hard I have no idea.

Pile pepperoni, cheese, onion or any other pizza toppings you want into the middle of the dough squares.

Pull up the dough around the filling, pinch closed and put seam side down on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. We also oiled the top of the pizza pockets.

Top generously with fresh shredded parmesan cheese and some cracked pepper if desired.

Bake 350 degrees 30-35 minutes.

There you go. Make some. We had a great time!

Stuffed Pretzels

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble allocating their car keys in a purse, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my cute left toe that everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.2 seconds, eyes closed, first time. every time. Pretty sure Ace can. As we rushed out the door and grabbed a whole grain stuffed pretzel to give to my kiddos on the way to school I marveled at my accuracy in locating them as well.

A few weeks ago I went to my local grocery super center looking for some ideas of things to put in lunch boxes and one that totally stuck in my head was stuffed pretzels. They are twisted and nice. Like me. However, I have to say that the ones in the freezer case where loaded to the hilt with chemicals and junk and my head started spinning when I registered the price for them. Really. I am really going to pay to put that crap in my kids mouths? Or mine for that matter. So today I thought we would do the unthinkable...and make our own. Wait. I guess it's not unthinkable because we do it all the time. I have in fact featured pretzels before. So, mind you if you just click on the word "pretzels" there is a full tutorial on how to make soft whole grain vegan pretzels from scratch. Just another part of my plot to get you sucked into my blog. You might like it and stay. OH please....please stay. Do you all remember the Stuffed Breadsticks from yesterday? Perhaps this will refresh your memory? You can use the basic bread recipes for the dough. A full batch will yield about 24 nice fluffy pretzels. Or use a half batch for these and half for stuffed bread sticks or a loaf of bread too. Really whatever you want.

Imagine cream cheese in there with some dabs of jam. Imagine cream cheese in there with some chopped jalapeno or dabs of D Dog BBQ rubs and sauce (I will be getting a bottle of the new cranberry chipotle sauce and making these with that inside...Thank you Evil D.) Today for the kiddos, we made them stuffed with peanut butter and the anti-Tara raisins of love and happiness. She can use chocolate chips. So can you (if you don't like raisins...I shudder at the thought).
So, here's what the filling looked like. I just left a little space at the end so it would seal nicely and did the 6 strips like we did with the Stuffed Breadsticks . Each strip will make 2 pretzels. Once the dough is sealed around the filling, you will need to cut the strip in half. Then roll it out like a snake (pretzels ...come on...give in to your feelings. Check out the post.)

Follow the instructions for raising and baking. Though for the sweet ones I misted them with water and added some sugar in the raw and some tiny niblets of chocolate. Lightly and elegantly dusted with powdered sugar and wa-laaa. Feel free to make a million of them. They're freaky "de-lucious".

There you go. Breakfast or lunch on the go in a gorgeous self contained package of joy. Life is cool.