Easy “Piroshkies”

When scrounging through my pantry and fridge for an easy dinner idea, I realized I could make a very easy cheat on a Russian classic.  Piroshkies. My husband loves to eat anything that involves meat and bread and he always says, “forget it” to the vegetables that I always offer on his plate (more on that later).  Grabbing the remnants from previous meals…half an onion, a few garlic cloves, a couple random celery sticks and some Pillsbury croissants rolls, I thought that these ingredients could probably make something fantastic, and more importantly a quick and easy dinner.  My 7 month old doesn’t let me set him down for too long!

These are a far cry from a traditional Piroshki, so don’t come for me if that’s what you’re after.  I just felt fancier thinking of the meat filled buns this way as I thawed my ground beef and got to work. These took maybe 15 minutes for me to prepare from start to finish.  Here are the things you will need, but you can get totally creative with the filling!

Easy “Piroshkies”

• 2 packs of Pillsbury croissant rolls containers
• 1lb ground beef (or whatever ground meat you have on hand)
• 1 small onion, chopped very small (or in my case half of a GIANT onion)
• Minced garlic cloves (use as many as you like, we like a lot of garlic in my house!)
• 2 celery sticks, chopped very small (sneak in any veggies you want here!  If I had more, I would have stuck them in there) 
• 1 cup shredded cheese (use whatever cheese you have on hand, this is also optional)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• 1 egg (optional, but it makes them shiny and beautiful!)
• Seasonings:  Again, add what you like. I used some salt, pepper, paprika, & more garlic powder

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. While your oven preheats, heat a pan with the olive oil in it on the stovetop.  Cook on a medium high heat.  Throw your ground beef, chopped onion, chopped veggies, minced garlic into the pan. 
2. While the filling cooks, open the 1 container of croissant rolls, unroll them and lay them out onto a floured surface.  You will want to pinch the perforated seams shut to make one sheet of dough.  Roll the dough out until you have about an 8×8 inch square of dough.  Cut this sheet of dough into 4 squares.  Repeat this process with the second can of dough so that you have 8 squares total.  (Keep an eye on your filling, stirring it periodically as you are working on getting your dough ready!)
3. Your filling should be about done cooking now, season it heavily with whatever you like!  Make sure to use salt and pepper, but get creative with whatever flavors you enjoy here.
4. Take your filling off of the heat and put it into a large bowl.  Stir in your shredded cheese quickly.  The shredded cheese will melt and it acts as a glue when scooping your filling to put on your dough squares.
5. Taking a ¼ cup measuring cup, pack your filling tightly in and plop the ball of filling into the center of the dough square.  Fold the edges up carefully, pinching it together at the top as you go.
6. Place your now stuffed ball of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat (or lined with parchment paper, or simply greased). Repeat this process until you have 8 filled buns.  You might have some extra meat filling…my dog enjoyed this treat.
7. Crack your egg into a small bowl and whisk it with a fork.  Using a pastry brush, brush the buns with the egg wash.  Take a butter knife and cut a slit in the top of each bun to let any steam out during the cooking process.
8. Place in the oven and let the buns bake about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
9. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Cooking the filling

Pinch the seams together before rolling the dough out

Roll the dough out

Cut your dough into squares

Add the filling to dough sheets

Egg wash

These also work very well to make ahead of time, all you have to do is place them in the fridge, before the egg wash step.  When it comes time to cook, brush your egg wash onto them, cut the slit in the top and throw in your oven.  I am a huge fan of recipes that I can do all the prepping and cooking ahead of time so that when dinner time rolls around, it causes hardly any mess at all!  Plus, I am TIRED at the end of the day, so it’s like doing my future self a favor when I cook earlier in the day and all I have to do is throw the thing in the oven.

I hope you try these, we LOVED how they turned out.  They were darn delicious, filling and a sidestep from our usual, boring weeknight meals.