Meat Buns

There’s nothing quite like the meat perishky I recall from days gone by…a dainty meat-filled pastry. I have my mother-in-law's recipe…but somehow couldn’t see myself rolling out all the dough and spending hours making tiny little pockets. So I adapted the recipe somewhat…and mine are simply meat buns!

They are wonderful to have in the freezer…and pull out for a quick lunch with pickles and cheese.

Filling:

2 pounds ground beef

2 onions, chopped

1 package onion soup mix

1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

Brown ground beef over medium heat in large skillet

…breaking up with the spoon while cooking.

Drain…add onions and cook for a few more minutes.

Stir in onion soup mix and mushroom soup and heat through.

Allow mixture to cool completely (can be made ahead).

Dough:

4 cups warm water
(1/3 cup potato flakes…optional)
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup margarine
½ cup oil
¼ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
12 cups flour
2 Tablespoons yeast
1 tsp. sugar
½ cup lukewarm water

Dissolve sugar and yeast in lukewarm water… and let stand 10 minutes.

Combine water, sugar, salt, oil and margarine…add beaten eggs.

Stir in softened yeast and beat in half the flour.

Continue to add flour until dough leaves sides of pan.

Knead until smooth and elastic.
Allow to rise until doubled in size...then punch down and form meat buns.

Pinch off balls of dough about the size of an egg...

...flatten into about a 3-inch circle and place a spoonful of filling on the center.

(The official method is to roll out the dough quite thin…and cut 3 inch circles.)

Bring the edges of the dough up and around the filling…and pinch together tightly to seal edges.

Place pinched side down on a greased baking sheet.

Cover and allow to rise in a warm place.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for about 20 minutes...or until golden.