A perfect party food, little bites of savory sausage wrapped in pastry!
When I put this quick and easy app together I had in mind the sausage rolls that are popular in England. Though I have not had the pleasure of of trying an authentic British sausage roll – a savory filling of ground sausage and seasonings wrapped in pastry, they certainly sound like tempting treats!
As I was assembling my easy version, a flavorful sausage in a bready wrap it occurred to me that really it’s a pig-in-a-blanket. It’s a classic party food, that pig-in-a-blanket but I am sticking with “sausage roll”.
And for my Sausage Rolls I use pre-cooked chicken sausages flavored with savory garlic and Gruyere cheese. (That would be would be, what… a bird in a blanket?)
I use these pre-cooked sausages instead of loose sausage meat to make the prep time really quick, and chose chicken sausage to cut back on some of the fat. They are wrapped in crescent roll dough conveniently available in a tube from the grocery store. You could certainly opt to use your own homemade pastry or bread dough and have an even tastier Sausage Roll. But the idea here is that when folks find themselves in that situation that I am often in: dashing to the store for a quick and easy app to prepare for soon-to-be-arriving guests, these Sausage rolls will be a quick-to-prepare option.
The nice thing about this particular sausage variety or any variety that includes cheese is that you don’t have to add any cheese to the roll. Sprinkling in a bit of cheese before rolling the sausage up in the dough is something you can do if you like, but don’t get too cheesy because we’re about to slice these bad boys up.
After the rolls are baked with a beautifully browned exterior, slice them into bite-sized portions – about 6 slices from each roll, and skewer them with toothpicks.
Voila: an easy-to-eat snack that was easy to make as well.
Set these bites out on a platter with a good dip, like a quality pub mustard, warmed pepper jelly, a cheese sauce if your sausages don’t include cheese, – or perhaps my family recipe for Chilli Sauce!
Sausage Roll Bites
Ingredients
- 4 fully cooked Roasted Garlic & Gruyere chicken sausages (I used a 12-ounce package from Aidells. You can substitute a flavor variety of your own choosing if you wish)
- 1 8-ounce tube crescent roll dough
- 1 large egg
- Toothpicks or party picks
- Dip for the Sausage Roll Bites, such as hearty mustards, pepper jelly, chili sauce or cheese sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Open the tube of crescent dough and unroll the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pinch the perforated seams together with your fingers, then use a rolling pin to roll out the sheet of dough to make it just a little thinner and larger.
- Cut the dough with a knife or pizza cutter into 4 equal sections. Place a chicken sausage on each of the dough sections, and roll the dough up around it. Pinch the long seam of the dough closed. Pinch the dough closed at the ends of the sausages. Place the sausage rolls on the prepared baking sheet with space between them.
- Beat the egg together with a teaspoon of water in a small dish. Brush this egg mixture over the sausage rolls, covering all of the surfaces and the ends.
- Bake the sausage rolls for 15 minutes. Place a piece of foil loosely over the tops of the rolls (to prevent over-browning) and bake them for 10 minutes longer. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Cut each sausage roll crosswise using a sharp knife and cutting board into about six sections. (You may get one more or less slice depending on the size of your sausages.) Skewer each section with a toothpick or party pick down through the top of each slice.
- Arrange the Sausage Roll Bites on a serving platter, along with a small bowl of a dipping sauce of your choice. Serve the bites while they’re warm.
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