How to Make Calzones, Pocket Pies, and Piroshki

In this recipe collection, you will find the following 

• Sweet Dough Recipe for Pie Crusts
• Fried Apple Pies
• Classic Beef Piroshki  
• Little Hand Held Chubby Cherry Pies
• Ham and Cheese Pocket Sandwiches
• Beef and Onion Piroshki
• County Line Breakfast Calzones
  

These are delightful. Your family will love them:

You'll love them because they are easy meals that don't take a lot of time. And you can freeze them and heat them in the microwave, your own "freezer meals."

You'll need a dough press. It's inexpensive, lasts forever, and you'll use it often. You'll make pocket pies, pocket sandwiches, calzones, and piroshki. The recipes on this page will get you started.

They can be sweet or savory.  For the sweet, you can use the prepared pie dough from the grocery store. But we have a simple recipe here that works well for the sweet. For the savory, we suggest our just-add-water pizza dough mix.

Here’s a simple solution. Call them pocket sandwiches, pizza pockets, calzones, or piroshkis… they’re a great way to rescue a busy day. They’re great for picnics and school lunches, too. You can even make breakfast pockets for those busy mornings.

You can put unbaked pockets in the freezer, and then thaw and bake them in the oven. You can cook them in the microwave, but baking creates a nicer crust.

These are delightful. Your family will love them:

You'll love them because they are easy meals that don't take a lot of time. And you can freeze them and heat them in the microwave, your own "freezer meals."

You'll need a dough press. It's inexpensive, lasts forever, and you'll use it often. You'll make pocket pies, pocket sandwiches, calzones, and piroshki. The recipes on this page will get you started.

They can be sweet or savory.  For the sweet, you can use the prepared pie dough from the grocery store. But we have a simple recipe here that works well for the sweet. For the savory, we suggest our just-add-water pizza dough mix.

Here’s a simple solution. Call them pocket sandwiches, pizza pockets, calzones, or piroshkis… they’re a great way to rescue a busy day. They’re great for picnics and school lunches, too. You can even make breakfast pockets for those busy mornings.

You can put unbaked pockets in the freezer, and then thaw and bake them in the oven. You can cook them in the microwave, but baking creates a nicer crust.

Sweet Dough Recipe (Pie Crust)

Use this recipe for sweet treats — pie pockets, baked or fried. A recipe for fried apple pies follows.

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 12 tablespoons very cold butter
• 3/4 cup very cold water

Directions

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt 
2. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture is granular.
3. Add the cold water and mix with a fork until the dough begins to come together. Remove the dough to the counter and knead it just until it forms a ball.

Assembly

1. Roll the dough to a thickness of 1/4-inch.
2. Cut the circles with the back of your dough press.
3. Assemble them according to the recipe. 

 Fried Apple Pies

These are made with a pie crust from the store or the recipe above. They are crispy and flaky, and absolutely delectable.

Make the filling from scratch or use a premade apple pastry filling. The premade filling is inexpensive and is perfect for these little pies. It’s also much more convenient and tastes just as great.

But the recipe for the homemade filling follows.

The Apple Pie Filling Recipe 

• 2 cups diced apple pieces (diced into 1/4-inch pieces)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

In a medium bowl, mix the apples, lemon juice, water, flour, and sugar together. Melt the butter in the microwave. Stir in the spices and the butter and let the filling cook for another couple of minutes. Set the filling aside.

Heat three inches of vegetable oil until hot, about 355 degrees. Slip the pastries into the hot oil one or two at a time, allowing the temperature of the oil to recover after each. Let them cook for eight to ten minutes or until golden-colored.

Remove them to a plate covered with paper towels. Serve them hot or cold.

Classic Beef Piroshki 

In America, these are pizza pockets or calzones. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, they're street food of which this recipe is typical. In Iran, they are filled with meat and potatoes. In Sweden, they're made with donut dough and filled with a pastry filling. 

We lived in Minnesota.  In the northern iron mines, miners packed these in their lunches and called them pasties.  

Use this recipe as a starting point and create whatever your family will love.  You can use tomato sauce for your calzones. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pizza mix
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 cup water or broth
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten, for glazing  

Directions

1. Brown the meat in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté for ten minutes or until the meat and onion are cooked.
2. Sprinkle flour over the meat mixture and continue cooking for one more minute to gelatinize the flour. Add the water to create an in-the-pan sauce.
3. Add the sour cream, stir to blend, and then remove from the heat. Add the chopped eggs, dill, salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside.

To assemble and bake the piroshki

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

1. Roll the dough out on a floured counter to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Cut the dough into 6-inch rounds using the back of your dough press.
2. Place a round in the floured dough press. Place three tablespoons of the filling on the round. Close the dough press firmly to seal the edges of the pastry. Continue with the rest of the rounds and filling.
3. Place the completed piroshki on a greased baking sheet. Poke a few holes in the piroshki with the tines of a fork to vent the piroshki. Brush with a beaten egg.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

 Little Handheld Chubby Cherry Pies

We've made sweet treats more than savory with our dough presses.  To us, they are "handheld pies." They're easy, fun, and delicious.

Our favorites are made with Chubby Cherry Filling.

You'll need some pie crust.  Use the back of the dough press to cut out circles. Place the circles in the press, fill the cupped area with cherry filling and fold the press to seal the edges. 

We glaze our little pies with a thin powdered sugar icing. Flavor the icing with vanilla, almond, or lemon flavoring.