Who doesn’t love little savory bite-sized, beef filled, flaky pillows of pastry?  Not only did I make and enjoy a hearty pot roast last week…but I had plenty of leftovers enough to make a batch of everyone’s favorite beef knishes for the holidays….good planning, huh?

There are a few steps involved, and it does take a little time to put together, but the egg-enriched dough is easy to work with, you can either use ground beef or leftover pot-roast, you can make them ahead….and the finished product is absolutely homemade with love and simply wonderful to taste!

Beef Knishes

To make the dough:

• 1 pkg dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 TB sugar
• pinch salt
• 2 sticks butter, chilled
• 2 large egg yolks

Dissolve the yeast in warm water.  Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor.  Cut in the chilled butter until the mixture is granular.  Add the yeast and egg yolks and process only until it forms a ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator overnight.

To make the filling:

• 2 cups ground beef, browned or leftover pot roast
• 2 Tbl chopped onions
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg lightly beaten

Trim or drain any extra fat from the beef.  Process beef, onion, salt and egg in your food processor until fine in texture (but not a paste).  Cool completely.

To assemble:

Divide dough into quarters and while working with 1/4, refrigerate the remaining quarters.  On a well floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle.  The dough will be easy to roll out to almost tissue-paper thin.

Spoon 1/4 of the filling along the long edge nearest you.

Roll like a jelly roll, resting the roll seam-side down and trim away any excess dough.

Cut into 1″ slices, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Continue with remaining dough and filling.

Glaze:  2 egg yolks + 1 tsp egg white beaten lightly

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Brush the tops of the knishes with the egg glaze.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

If freezing, bake 5 minutes less.  Cool and freeze on cookie sheet for 1 hour.  Remove and wrap for the freezer.

To serve:  heat on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes until hot.