Sweet or Savory Vegan Hearty Hot Pockets (Spelt or Gluten-Free)

Maybe the reason I’ve been baking since I was a little girl is that it’s in my blood. I’m sure that’s what my grandmothers would say. And my maternal grandmother would proudly remind me of her brothers, the Marcils, who ran a bakery in the small town back east where my mother grew up. Later, out in California, when I was growing up, my grandmother would show me the way her brothers taught her to make pie crust, and when she was pleased with my efforts, she bequeathed me a pastry cloth they used in their bakery. I still have it.

It’s been decades since I made pastry with crisco or butter, but I still love to bake. So when Kelly, my daughter-in-law, got into making vegan hot pockets, I caught the enthusiasm too. Like I always do when I want to try something out, I googled “spelt hot pocket dough” to see what would come up. I found this little gem of a post from Berlin By the Bay–Berlin Bites: Sweet Potato Hot Pockets.

Although when my search first coughed this entry up, I thought I might be surfing over to a German blog, it turns out that Berlin is a toddler living in the Bay Area, whose mother, Jordan, writes a blog about healthy food she makes for her daughter. I loved the ease and playfulness of the basic recipe, which I hope you’ll check out (she used a cookie cutter in the shape of a porcupine). I wanted to make my hot pocket dough oil free and lower fat, but I loved the idea of using cookie cutters for making small hot pockets. And as Jordan says, you can basically fill these with anything. Her filling is savory sweet potato-black bean-greens combo based on what Berlin will eat. I wanted to improvise on that with what I had on hand, and also try some fruit fillings. I’ll share 3 fillings and an oil free dough here, but please go on over and check out the original recipe, too.

If you are one of my many gluten free readers, have no fear, you will not be left out. I also made a batch of gluten-free hot pocket dough, and I’ll share that here too. You don’t have to be a toddler to enjoy these little bites of goodness, but if you have a toddler in your life, these sure seem like good healthy eats on the go for little ones.

       Print Recipe    

Spelt dough on the left, gluten free dough on the right. No need for cookie cutters either, you can also go free form!

I was lucky enough to have one of my dearest long-time friends from Moscow come through Portland recently. She brought me pears from the tree at my old blue house, thoughtfully entrusted to her for me by the woman her lives there now. I wanted to do something special with them, so all the hearts I made I filled with that special fruit. The apple, too, came from a friend’s tree. Each bite reminds me of the gifts of Fall, and all the special people in my life, and how happy it makes me to be baking again, sharing a healthy twist on an old favorite. I didn’t get my great uncles’ pastry cloth out, but I did roll the dough on my grandmother’s old kitchen table, where I learned to roll dough, and make other treats my grandmother made at the holidays, like dates stuffed with peanut butter and rolled in sugar.

Even though my ingredients have shifted away from sugar and fat, I like to think she’d be proud her table is still laden with the loving labor of making good things to eat, and sharing them with friends and neighbors.