I’m always on a quest to make as much from scratch as possible – but I’m also a working mother of three who’s trying to make it through the day. So there are some convenience foods that I always have on hand for quick meals. High quality smoked sausages are definitely on the list – they are perfect to slice up and add to a pasta, roasted on a sheet pan with vegetables or crisped up in a frying pan to serve alongside scrambled eggs are some of my favorite ways to use them. I recently added frozen puff pastry to my arsenal of quick meal ingredients and whipped up these little puff pastry wrapped sausages that are reminiscent of those pigs in a blanket made with strips of refrigerated crescent roll dough and tiny hot dogs. Think of this as a little more elevated and containing fewer chemical additives.
Until I attempt to make my own puff pastry using sourdough discard and a recipe like this one, I’ve been buying this one from Dufour. And I’ve made these little “Puff Dogs” (so named by my 9 year old who said “mom, these are the best things you’ve ever made – what should we call them?”) two ways – the first time, just wrapping the entire sausage in puff pastry and baking. They turn out totally crispy and delicious but were a little tough for my kiddos to eat – I ended up cutting them up anyway. So lately I’ve been doing the same wrapping – but then slicing them into pieces and baking them like pinwheels in the oven. They bake up a little faster and are easy for little hands to grab and make a lovely appetizer for a party!
This is less of a recipe and more of a method but here we go!
Puff Dogs
Gather this:
- 4 pre-cooked sausages of your choice (here I use the Beef & Cheddar sausage from Thousand Hills and this chicken sausage from Bilinski’s)
- 1 box puff pastry, thawed in the fridge for several hours
- dijon mustard, pesto or savory jam for spreading on the pastry (this is totally optional – I paired a radish top pesto with the chicken sausage and left the Beef & Cheddar plain)
- 1 egg, beaten
Do this:
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, unfold the puff pastry and cut along the fold lines to make 4 rectangle pieces. Spread a thin layer of the pesto, mustard or jam on the pieces – leaving about an inch of space at the top. Place the sausage on the bottom of the puff pastry (both lengthwise) and roll up, pressing to seal. At this point you can place the sausages right on the sheet pan, brush with the beaten egg and bake for about 20 minutes. Alternatively, you can slice the sausages and set them on the sheet pan pinwheel style, brush with egg wash and bake for about 17 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving!