Allegedly they were invented by some catholic monks who had some juicy meat on hand which they weren't allowed to eat on that day (friday I think) so they hid the meat from gods eyes by wrapping it in dough. Foolproof plan me thinks

Yes, literally translated it does. Maul is a bit on the vulgar side these days, you'd say Mund instead. For animals often Maul is still used. And if you tell someone to shut up you tell them Halt's Maul (hold your mouth)

Yup! But ruder, more like maw pockets

I think the more common translation is feed bags (the things you can tie in front of a horse's mouth)