Chili Meat Pockets

I'm not sure who gave me this recipe but I used to make it for the children's school lunches. It would also be a great appetizer for those Christmas parties. If you have a food processor, use it for the pastry.

Pastry:

You will need to make the recipe twice to use up the filling.

1 cup creamed cottage cheese

1 cup margarine

2 3/4 cups flour

2 Tbsp. wheat germ

Chili Meat Filling (recipe follows)

Cheddar cheese cut into pieces about 1/4"x 1"x 1/1/2".

Place all Pastry ingredients in bowl of food processor and pulse until dough begins to stick together.

If mixing by hand, cut margarine and cottage cheese into dry ingredients and then mix by hand until mixture holds together and becomes somewhat sticky.

Divide dough and roll each piece out to about 1/8th inch thickness on floured surface.

Cut circles using a cutter about 3 1/2 inches in diameter.

Place 1 piece cheddar cheese on one side of each circle. Top with about 1 Tbsp. of meat filling.

Fold in half and crimp edges together using a fork. Prick the tops with your fork to let the steam out when they bake.

Place on baking sheets and bake at 375 degrees C for about 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve to the kids with ketchup for dipping or to the adults with red pepper jelly.

Chili Meat filling:

2 lbs. ground beef

1/1/2 cups onions chopped fine

3 Tbsp. Chili powder ( or to taste)

4 envelopes beef boullion powder.

Brown ground beef and onions until meat is cooked through. Drain fat. Add chili powder and beef boullion powder and cook a little longer stirring well until seasonings are incorporated. (Do not add water)

Keep the Chili Meat pockets in the fridge or freezer until serving. They heat up best in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or turn the oven off and let them warm if frozen.