Pigs in Blankets

Pigs in Blankets Recipe

I’ll come clean with you right from the start, these aren’t actually Pigs in Blankets. These wonderful festive nibbles feature Heck Chickfurters, so they’re totally piggy free. I thought Chicks in Blankets sounded a little like something from a porn site, however, so here are my kind of Pigs in Blankets.

My Pigs in Blankets are based on a super recipe from the fab Food and Wine site, where they used some sort of fancy andouille sausages. When Heck kindly sent me their Chickfurters to try, I knew these would be brilliant in blankets. We are family of franks fans, George being the biggest; he’ll put them in anything, pasta, omelettes, straight from the pan, the list goes on. To simply wrap them in puff pastry, slice and bake in mini muffin pans and devour hot with a mango mustard dip seemed like a bloody good idea. And, I am happy to confirm, it was. This batch barely lasted 20 minutes.

My Pigs/Chicks in Blankets are crisp, the Chickfurters are light and smoky and the dip is spiced and sweet. Get these on your to do list as a matter of urgency.

Here are the Chickfurters on all their glory. If you can’t get hold of them, then regular franks will be just fine. No other alarming ingredients here, if you can’t be arsed to make the dip, the just serve with mustard and/or ketchup.

Make a start by pre heating your oven to 160 degrees fan assisted and butter/oil your mini muffin tins. I used one large and one small tin, with a total of 36 holes.

Now, remove your pastry from the fridge and unroll. Using your sausages as a guide, cut your pastry into 4 equal squares which fit your 4 sausages.

Beat the egg, then use this to brush around the edge of each square of pastry.

Roll your sausages up in the pastry then place on a tray and pop in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up.

For the dip, simply mix the mango chutney and mustard of your choice, grain or dijon is lovely, until smooth.

When the chilling time is up, place the sausage rolls onto a chopping board and trim any excess pastry from the end of each roll.

Slice each chilled roll into inch wide pieces and place into the mini muffin recesses.

You should get around 8 pieces from each sausage, making 32 in total.

Bake these in your pre heated oven for around 30 to 35 minutes. The not pigs in blankets are ready when they’re golden, crisp and smelling too good to be true.

Wait for as long as you can before removing them from the tray without burning your hands. Serve, warm, dipped in plenty of the mango mustard dipping sauce. Snowball optional.

These are simple, tasty morsels which I can guarantee will bring smiles to the faces of your guests this Christmas. I’ll be honest, you could happily double, or treble this recipe and they would still get eaten.

As always at this time of year, I am sending lots of love to you and yours from me and mine. Merry Christmas.

Lucy x

Heck kindly sent me their Chickfurters to try, however, all opinions and ramblings are, as always, my own.

Pigs in Blankets Recipe

Makes around 32, size dependent

You will just need mini muffin tins for this

320g sheet puff pastry

4 frankfurter sausages, I used Heck Chickfurter Sausages

1 egg, beaten

Mango Dipping Sauce

4 tablespoons mango chutney

2 teaspoons mustard, I used dijon, but grain mustard would be lovely

Pre heat your oven to 160 degrees fan assisted and butter or oil your mini muffin tins. I used one large and one small tin, with around 36 recesses.

Take your puff pastry out of the packaging and lay on a chopping board. Lay 2 of your sausages along the long side of the pastry as a guide, then according to their size, cut the pastry in half then in half again, so you have four squares, one for each sausage.

Beat your egg then brush around the edge of each square of pastry.

Place your sausage on the long end of the pastry then roll each frankfurter in the square of pastry and place on a tray. Freeze for around 10 minutes.

For the sauce, mix the mango chutney and mustard and put into a bowl for dipping.

Once firm, trim any excess pastry from the end of each roll, then cut into inch wide pieces. You should aim for 8 per sausage. Place each piece into a mini muffin hole. Repeat with the further 3 sausages.

Place your trays into the pre heated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden and well risen. Leave to cool slightly before removing to a serving plate.

Serve the warm pigs in blankets with the mango mustard sauce for dipping.