Gluten-Free (Grain-Free) Low Carb Hot Pockets

Editing this entry to correct carb counts.
I’m excited about sharing this recipe here. I don’t get many original ideas and I think these are definitely blog worthy. I haven’t posted much lately due to our diet change, now that the grandchildren aren’t staying with us. We are doing a ketogenic diet (low carb, moderate protein, high fat) and I have to say, I love it! At first, I stuck to some very basic recipes to help us get over the hump of starting a stricter diet. Now that we are well into it, I’ve started cooking a variety of foods. While this is a recipe I wouldn’t make frequently (on the higher carb end), I am glad to have it for those times we just want a little something different. It would also be good to take along on day trips, when I won’t be home to cook. I based this recipe on the one for the Holy Grail Pizza Crust, which I love and think is the perfect pizza crust! These are great to make and freeze (bake the crust, add toppings, freeze, thaw, reheat @ 350 degrees for 15 minutes). I took three of them to Austin with us on our vacation and they held up extremely well, even days after they’d thawed out. (They were refrigerated) It was on the drive home from Texas that the idea for hot pockets came to me. While I still want to work on the visual aspect, I didn’t want to wait to share the recipe.

GF LC HOT POCKETS

Makes 4

CRUST

1 1/2 cups Mozzarella cheese, grated
3/4 cup almond flour
2 Tbs coconut flour
1 extra large egg
2 Tbs cream cheese, room temp
2 Tbs grated parmesan cheese (fresh)
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp sea salt

FILLING

1 cup sliced or diced ham
1 cup shredded cheese of choice
2 Tbs cream cheese, room temp

Turn oven on to Broil. Place grated Mozzarella in an oven safe bowl or small pie plate, spreading out evenly. Place on lowest rack of oven for about 3 minutes. Watch closely; you don’t want it to turn brown at all, just melt it.

Remove from oven and while it cools slightly add remaining crust ingredients in a separate bowl.

Mix ingredients well, then add melted cheese. Squeeze cheese thoroughly to incorporate into other ingredients. Shape into ball as well as you can. The dough is sticky at this point.

Let stand for 5 minutes. While you wait, prepare filling by mixing all ingredients well.

This is the kind of ham I used; 5 thin slices made 1 cup.

Take crust dough and shape into a log.

Divide log into eight equal pieces.

Shape each piece into a ball.

Pat each ball out into patty form with hands. Then place on parchment covered baking sheet and continue to shape into larger circles.

You can place these close together, as they don’t spread.

On middle rack of oven, place baking sheet for 3 minutes. Watch closely; you want them to just begin to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for one minute.

Place equal amounts of filling in the center of four of the circles.

Place other circles on top, browned side down, then pinch the edges together as best you can. (Don’t worry if they don’t seem to seal) Then take a fork and press down all around the edges of each hot pocket, to help seal the edges. (Again, don’t worry if they don’t seem to fully seal; it will come together in the oven) I found that pressing down with the tip of the fork first, then pressing down fully, then sliding the fork away works best. Next time I make these, I am going to use a biscuit or tart cutter to give them a better finished look.

Return to oven under broiler for 3 minutes, watching closely. Once the top is nicely browned, remove from oven. Wait one minute, then carefully flip them. Return to oven for 2-3 minutes to finish browning. Remove and serve. Approximately 14 total carbs (8 net) per pocket. I hadn’t realized how much the coconut flour upped the carbs, so I’ll be working on this recipe to see if I can decrease the carb count.

As they cool, they can be eaten like a hot pocket (without a fork).

My first attempt at these I made pizza pockets. I used all the ingredients for pizza topping inside and used Italian seasoning in the crust.

These could even be sweetened (replace garlic salt in crust with sweetener) and filled with fruit or some other sweet filling. Here’s my version of a cran-apple turnover doing this:

Please share your ideas in the comments!

This post is part of the Tasty Traditions and Fight Back Fridays real food blog carnivals. Check them out for more great stuff!

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