Old German Beerocks

This recipe is one that is near and dear to my heart. Its a old family recipe, and these little meat filled pockets hold lots of memories for me and my mother. For her, its memories of her "Gram" whom she loved dearly. For me, I just love them and I always remember the flavor no matter how long its been since I have eaten them last. I hadn't had them in years, so mom and I decided to give them a try, and they were just like we remembered. Although the recipe has lots of steps, its actually pretty easy. Mom and I used a basic dough recipe that we prepared in the bread maker, but I am including the traditional potato dough recipe. Our family dips them in ketchup, but its up to you if you want to or not. I think the word "Heinz" is German, right???

The Old German Beerocks

1 cake yeast

1 c lukewarm mashed potato

1 1/2 c potato water

2/3 c sugar

1/2 t salt

2 eggs, well beaten

7 to 7 1/2 c sifted flour

2/3 c melted shortening, cooled

Filling:

1/4 c shortening

1 c sliced onion

4 c shredded cabbage (we used packaged angel hair coleslaw)

2 c cold roast beef

Crumble yeast into mixing bowl, add lukewarm potato and potato water. Add sugar and salt, stir. Let stand thoroughly dissolved, about 5 minutes.

Add eggs and mix, add about half of the flour. Beat with spoon until smooth and very elastic so that batter will fall from spoon in sheets. Beat in the cooled shortening. Add most of the remaining flour and knead well until dough is easy to handle. Turn dough into lightly floured bread board. Cover and let stand 10 minutes to tighten up.

Knead until smooth and elastic. Place in large greased bowl and grease top. Cover and store in refrigerator. An hour before ready to use, remove from refrigerator.

Run meat through chopper, using a large chop. Salt and pepper to taste. Melt shortening in saucepan, add cabbage onions. Steam cabbage and onions, stirring so they will not brown and over cook. Add meat and mix well. Cool.

Roll dough on floured board about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut 5 inch squares and place a heaping tablespoon of filling on each square. Bring 4 corners together and pinch edges. (We folded them into lots of different shapes, just for fun!) Place on greased baking  sheet, pinched side down. Traditionally, they are not egg-washed, but we did half of them just to see how they turned out.

Set in warm place to rise 15 to 20 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees 20-25 minutes.