THE BIEROCKS ARE HERE! The responses I got from many of you when I first posted about “bierocks” was “What are those?!” or “Are you from western Kansas?”. The answer is no, I am not AND these little pastry filled yums are the absolute BEST. However, I didn’t even consider that bierocks were uncharted territory for most. My momma has been making these flaky bits of deliciousness ever since I was a kid and they were always one of my favorites. Between the flakiness of the crescent rolls and the savory of the insides, you just can’t go wrong! If you haven’t tried these, this is an easy recipe that allows for you to test it out!

Traditional bierocks are similar to pierogis, calzones, empanadas…you get the point – basically they are pastries filled with meat, cheese and other yummy ingredients. I googled “bierocks” and sort of fell down a rabbit hole of interesting information. They actually originated in Russia as pierogis and were brought to the Great Plains in the 1870’s where the term “bierocks” was coined. If any of you are familiar with “Runza” (I know, it’s a horrible name – there used to be one in Lawrence when I was in college and I could never bring myself to go!) the midwestern restaurant, they began to morph these pastries into what we think of as “bierocks”.

Over the years, I have seen many different variants of this recipe, but the thing I love the most about my Momma’s recipe is the simplicity of it. Not to mention, it is so easy to cater to whatever audience by adding to or removing a variety of different ingredients.

I remember the first time I made this recipe for Shane; we had just started dating and he had NO idea what a “bierocks” was. He took his first bite and the rest is history. Now, these are probably the most requested menu item from Shane. I normally keep it pretty simple with the ingredients; adding ground beef/ground turkey, onions and cheese!

Recipe is listed below, let your girl know if you test this one out!

ingredients:

• 2 containers of crescent rolls (16 rolls total)
• 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
• 1/2 chopped red onion (optional)
• Pepper Jack cheese (or any preferred cheese)
• Lawry’s season salt

directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (or follow directions listed on the crescent roll container).
2. In skillet, combine ground beef (or turkey) sprinkled with season salt, and red onion over medium heat. Cook until ground beef is browned and onion is tender.
3. While the ground beef and onion are cooking, spray large cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Then open one container of crescent rolls (8 rolls). Take two rolls at a time and lay them flat on the cookie sheet, this will act as the bottom base of the bierock. 8 rolls should make 4 bierock bases (2 per each base).
   • Normally, I will pinch together the two rolls where they are perforated. This ensures that the contents of your bierock won’t fall out the bottom.
4. Once the ground beef and onion are cooked, remove from heat. Using measuring scoop, scoop about 1 cup of ground beef and onion contents before evenly distributing on to the bottom crescent roll base. Repeat until all “bases” are filled and ground beef is gone.
   • Leave about 1 inch of space around all sides of your bottom crescent rolls. This allows for you to push together the bottom crescent rolls and the top crescent rolls to form the “pocket”.
5. Next, generously sprinkle each bierock with desired cheese (we’ve used cheddar, pepper jack, white cheddar, etc. – really any type of cheese would work!).
6. Then open the second container of crescent rolls, again taking two rolls (or two triangles), at a time, being carful not to pull apart the two rolls. This time you will drape the two rolls over the ground beef contents, making sure to pull the dough over the contents until it touches the bottom crescent roll base.
7. Once each bierock has been formed, take a fork and press down all around the perimeter of the bierock, creating the “pocket” of contents. You will end up with 4 LARGE bierocks.
8. Next, place the cookie sheet in oven and cook bierocks for 9-12 minutes or following cooking directions listed on the crescent roll container!
9. Remove once golden/flakey & ENJOY!