Making Pepperoni Pizza Pastries: A Homemade Delight

As I begin to make my pepperoni pizza pastries, I am reminded of how much I love eating these little treats after school. They are essentially homemade versions of pizza pockets that have a melty cheesy filling and salty pepperoni encased in a buttery flaky blanket. To start, I need to make my cheese filling, which consists of three kinds of cheeses for different flavors and textures. I begin by adding some mozzarella, which will get really melty as it bakes. Next, I add a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan for saltiness, and then some ricotta cheese to bring everything together.

I add six ounces of the cheese mixture to my filling, along with an egg to keep everything together and prevent the cheese from leaking out as it bakes. A couple of tablespoons of flour will also help to bind the filling together. To give my filling a bit of extra flavor, I add a green bell pepper, some dried oregano, and crushed red pepper. Finally, I season with salt and pepper, and mix everything together until the filling is fully combined.

With my cheese filling ready, I move on to preparing my puff pastry. I have thawed it in the refrigerator and now need to roll it out to a big rectangle that is 10 by 15 inches. This will be the perfect size for cutting into six evenly sized squares. To avoid sticking, I dust my counter with a little flour. I then use my rolling pin to gently and evenly work the pastry until it reaches the desired size.

To cut the puff pastry into squares, I use my accordion pastry cutter, which allows me to get perfectly even cuts. If you don't have an accordion pastry cutter, you can also use a knife. I roll out two rolls of squares, which are both geometrically satisfying and easy to work with. Next, I transfer my squares to my baking sheet, which is lined with parchment paper. This will prevent the pastry from sticking and make it easier to assemble the pizza pockets.

Now that I have my puff pastry cut into squares, I am ready to assemble the pizza pockets. To do this, I need to grab my red sauce and pepperoni - you can't make pizza without these two essential ingredients! I add a dollop of cheese filling towards one corner of the square, as I will be folding it on a diagonal when it's time to bake. Next, I create a well in the cheese filling that will hold the sauce and prevent it from leaking out.

I sprinkle some tiny baby pepperonis all over the filling, followed by a seal with egg wash - this is just an egg beaten with a splash of water that helps seal the pastry together. To really lock the fillings in, I press the edges together and use my fork to crimp them into place. Finally, I finish with some extra egg wash to make the pastry shiny and cute.

As I continue to assemble the pizza pockets, I keep adding more cheese filling and toppings until they are all fully loaded. Once everything is ready, I chill the pastries in the refrigerator for a bit to help them hold their shape before baking. This will ensure that they come out perfectly flaky and delicious when they're done.

Finally, it's time to bake my pepperoni pizza pastries! They will be baked at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, which should give them plenty of time to puff up and get crispy on the outside while staying gooey and cheesy on the inside. As I wait for the pastries to finish baking, the aroma of buttery pastry and melted cheese fills the air - it's almost too good to wait!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eni am making my pepperoni pizza pastries this is a homemade version of the pizza pockets that i would eat almost every day after school which have a melty cheesy filling and salty pepperoni encased in a buttery flaky blanket to get started i'm gonna make my cheese filling i've got three kinds of cheeses here for different flavors and textures i'll start with some mozzarella this will get really melty a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan for saltiness and some ricotta cheese will bring it all together i'll add six ounces of this an egg will keep everything together and prevent the cheese filling from leaking out as these bake and a couple tablespoons of flour will help to bind it i'm gonna add a green bell pepper i'll give this a little pizzazz with some dried oregano and you gotta have crushed red pepper on pizza i'll season with salt and pepper and mix together my filling is combined i'm ready for my puff pastry i've got a sheet pan a rolling pin and my puff pastry which i've thawed in the refrigerator i'm gonna dust my counter with a little flower so that it doesn't stick so i'm gonna roll the sheet out to a big rectangle that is 10 by 15 inches that'll be the perfect size to give me six evenly sized squares so i'm just gently and evenly working it with my rolling pin my puff pastry is rolled out to the size that i want it i'm going to cut it into squares now and to do that i'm going to use my accordion pastry cutter which will allow me to get perfectly even cuts but you could also use a knife i'm going to roll two rolls of squares so geometrically satisfying i'll transfer my squares to my baking sheet which is lined with parchment paper so that they don't stick and i'm placing them pretty closely together right now but once i fold them up they'll have enough room on all sides to bake evenly i'm ready to assemble i've gotta grab my red sauce and my pepperoni you can't make pizza without sauce and you can't make pizza for nick without pepperoni to assemble i'm gonna add a dollop of cheese filling kind of towards one corner because i'm gonna be folding this on a diagonal and then i'm gonna create a well in the cheese filling that's gonna hold the sauce and prevent it from leaking out and these are little pizza pockets so i've got my tiny baby pepperonis i'll sprinkle these all over and i'll seal it up with egg wash and this is just an egg beaten with a splash of water and it's gonna help seal these together i'll fold this right over the toppings and press the edges together and to really lock the fillings in i'm going to crimp the edges with a fork and i'll finish with some egg wash to make them shiny how cute i'll keep on filling these and then i'm going to chill them before baking to help them hold their shape they are going to be tremendous triangles of pizza perfection these will bake at 375 for 30 minutes they are gonna be so good with so many folds of flakiness it smells like buttery pizza in here so i'm gonna check on my pizza pastries these have puffed up perfectly i can see all the flakes and i'm smelling the pepperoni coming from within youi am making my pepperoni pizza pastries this is a homemade version of the pizza pockets that i would eat almost every day after school which have a melty cheesy filling and salty pepperoni encased in a buttery flaky blanket to get started i'm gonna make my cheese filling i've got three kinds of cheeses here for different flavors and textures i'll start with some mozzarella this will get really melty a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan for saltiness and some ricotta cheese will bring it all together i'll add six ounces of this an egg will keep everything together and prevent the cheese filling from leaking out as these bake and a couple tablespoons of flour will help to bind it i'm gonna add a green bell pepper i'll give this a little pizzazz with some dried oregano and you gotta have crushed red pepper on pizza i'll season with salt and pepper and mix together my filling is combined i'm ready for my puff pastry i've got a sheet pan a rolling pin and my puff pastry which i've thawed in the refrigerator i'm gonna dust my counter with a little flower so that it doesn't stick so i'm gonna roll the sheet out to a big rectangle that is 10 by 15 inches that'll be the perfect size to give me six evenly sized squares so i'm just gently and evenly working it with my rolling pin my puff pastry is rolled out to the size that i want it i'm going to cut it into squares now and to do that i'm going to use my accordion pastry cutter which will allow me to get perfectly even cuts but you could also use a knife i'm going to roll two rolls of squares so geometrically satisfying i'll transfer my squares to my baking sheet which is lined with parchment paper so that they don't stick and i'm placing them pretty closely together right now but once i fold them up they'll have enough room on all sides to bake evenly i'm ready to assemble i've gotta grab my red sauce and my pepperoni you can't make pizza without sauce and you can't make pizza for nick without pepperoni to assemble i'm gonna add a dollop of cheese filling kind of towards one corner because i'm gonna be folding this on a diagonal and then i'm gonna create a well in the cheese filling that's gonna hold the sauce and prevent it from leaking out and these are little pizza pockets so i've got my tiny baby pepperonis i'll sprinkle these all over and i'll seal it up with egg wash and this is just an egg beaten with a splash of water and it's gonna help seal these together i'll fold this right over the toppings and press the edges together and to really lock the fillings in i'm going to crimp the edges with a fork and i'll finish with some egg wash to make them shiny how cute i'll keep on filling these and then i'm going to chill them before baking to help them hold their shape they are going to be tremendous triangles of pizza perfection these will bake at 375 for 30 minutes they are gonna be so good with so many folds of flakiness it smells like buttery pizza in here so i'm gonna check on my pizza pastries these have puffed up perfectly i can see all the flakes and i'm smelling the pepperoni coming from within you\n"