How Sweet Eat's Cheeseburger Puff Pastry Pockets {A Real Family Favorite}!

 Right now I have a passion for cleaning out my pantry, freezers, and fridges. I'm grateful enough to have an inside fridge with a freezer and a garage fridge with a freezer. This really allows me to shine when it comes to hoarding food. It's something I really excel at. Just ask my family. They love it when they're looking for popsicles or ice cream and pork tenderloins are falling on their toes.

I like to have just about everything on hand at all times, but I really seem to excel at hoarding chicken breast, ground beef, and puff pastry. Earlier in the week I cleaned out some chicken breast and made How Sweet Eat's BBQ Chicken Enchiladas. I had planned to share those, but the BBQ flavor was overwhelming and it just didn't work for us. So, I got out the ground beef and hit paydirt when I found this recipe for Cheeseburger Puff Pastry Pockets because it allowed me to use up some ground beef and some puff pastry! WOOHOO!! 

Warning: I'm feeling chatty today! Summer is about one week away and this school year was a total doozy so I'm really feeling a long break!

Very important: When you cook, you should make the recipe your own. The recipe here is simply whatever cheeseburgery filling you'd like stuffed in puff pastry dough and baked. The only hard rule is that you don't want your filling to be too wet.

Now, How Sweet Eat's cheeseburger filling was ketchup heavy and my family isn't really into ketchup, so I went easy on the ketchup. What my family does love is onions and pickles so I added chives and dill. Then I added extra cheese because we like it like that too.

Also important: How Sweet Eat's likes to top these pockets with sesame seeds. I would probably like that, but my gut wouldn't. Back in December I was diagnosed with acute diverticulitis and have been rather sick ever since so I stay away from seeds, nuts, corn, etc. 

I find all kinds of other ways to flavor my food now, and as I mentioned, we love pickles so I topped my pockets with this Seasoning In a Pickle Seasoning Blend from Trader Joe's. You do you! 

I don't have to tell you that these were delicious, do I? And oh so easy? I mean you just cook up some ground beef and season it with whatever you like, grate some cheese, make a house sauce, then stuff it in a puff pastry square, brush with some egg wash, fold and bake. It is crispy and flaky and buttery and savory and sauce, and cheesy, with all the flavors and seasonings that you love! Make this if you want your family to be happy!

Cheeseburger Puff Pastry Pockets

Adapted from How Sweet Eats

by Jessica Merchant

Serves 8-10, depending

For the Pockets

1 pound of lean ground beef

salt and pepper

3 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons yellow mustard

6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated

2 sheets thawed puff pastry

1 large egg, plus 1 teaspoon water for egg wash

2 tablespoons, sesame seeds, for sprinkling* and/or various other toppings*

House Sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoons favorite BBQ sauce

Disclaimer: All puff pastry is not the same. It isn't the same shape or size and doesn't produce the same results. Dufour puff pastry is the best, but also the smallest. I used Pepperidge Farm for this recipe and got four squares from each sheet, hence 8 pockets for the recipe. Everyone's results will probably be different based on the puff pastry you use.

Preheat the oven to 425F. Place each of the puff pastry sheets on a piece of parchment paper on baking sheets. You can only make one sheet at a time, but I like to have the other one ready to go too.

Cut both sheets of puff pastry into six squares (see disclaimer) on the parchment paper. Basically make your puff pastry work for you! 

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until browned, breaking it apart into small crumbles. Stir in the ketchup and mustard until combined. Turn off the heat and add in a sprinkle of the cheese - just an ounce or two. Let the beef cool slightly.

Make the house sauce by whisking all the ingredients together and giving it time for the flavors to come together!

Once the beef has cooled a bit, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons into the square of puff pastry. Drizzle on some house sauce. Sprinkle with a bit of cheese. Brush the edges of the square with the egg wash, then bring one corner to meet the other, making a triangle pocket. Press the edges down with a fork to seal them. Repeat with the remaining puff pastry.

Brush the tops of the pockets with the egg wash. Sprinkle all over with the sesame seeds, or the everything but the bagel seeds, or the pickle seasoning as I've show above. Again, make these your own!

Bake the puff pastry pockets for 20 minutes, or until golden and puffed and shiny. Remove them from the oven and let cool slightly - the insides are super hot! Serve with condiments, lettuce, tomato, pickles and anything else you love with a burger. Don't forget to dip in the House Sauce.

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