Pigs in a blanket

"Pigs in a blanket'  are sausages wrapped in a beautiful crescent dough and are also known by many different names in different part of the world like kilted sausages, Wesley dogs,  li'l smokies, devils on a horseback,and wiener winks. In fact, I even have read somewhere that these hugely popular "pigs in a blanket" are actually a British adaptation of a German recipe called "Sausage in a nightgown". Cute!!  But whatever name they be called by, I can think of only one name for them - "Mouthwateringly-Scrumptiously-Yummylicious" !! Eat them dipped in mustard sauce and you are in seventh heaven!! 

I first tasted them at the American Embassy School, where I  worked and almost immediately fell in love with these bite-sized delicacies. Easily available at the schools "outside-sales counter", there was always a constant demand from back home to order these. It worked well for me too, as they not only made a wonderful appetizer to fill the 'in-between' hungry meal times but served with a bowl of soup or a plate of grilled veggies they  helped to complete the meal, helping me out immensely as I had one less thing  to worry about while planning dinner. No longer a part of the school, since I left two years back, these 'pigs in a blanket' are something which have been sorely missed in our household both by kids and us alike. 

After many a pleas from my 'hungry twosome', I finally decided to give a shot at trying to make them at home. 

Having worked with bread dough many a times, I had a fair idea how to go about it, but I wanted the recipe to be perfect just the way we remembered them. I rung up the school and requested (rather pleaded) Mr. Ahluwalia, the food services manager, if he could kindly allow me into the school cafeteria to let me watch how they were prepared. On many an occasion earlier too, he has been really sweet, divulging any recipes he was asked for without a moment's hesitation. In fact the recipe he gave me for Chicken Stroganoff is the best I have ever eaten and is a favorite choice in the kiddies option for dinner. After spending an interesting couple of hours in the school cafeteria's kitchen (it was a dream working amidst the huge ovens and the uncountable kitchen-aids mixers ), I came out happy and smiling, enriched with not only the recipe for 'pigs in a blanket" but also the recipes for doughnuts, danish pastries, croissants and brownies, which of course I will  be trying out eventually, so keep watching this space.

The 'little piggies' came out great and needless to say vanished in no time. Extremely easy to make these are something I will be trying out much more frequently from now on. You too try them out as in addition to being extremely delicious, they are a breeze to make.The best part is that you can bake them in advance, in fact, they even freeze beautifully  wrapped in a plastic. Just thaw them in a microwave and reheat for a minute and they taste as good as fresh. So go ahead and enjoy making these snacks, serve them and dazzle in your party and see your guests eyes pop out in wonder, give it in your child's lunchbox making them declare you the 'Best Mom in the World', have them for breakfast or dinner or just anytime of the day you feel like!! 

Ingredients

31/2 cups flour

1 cup milk

2 tbsp milk powder

1/2 cup warm water

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

11/2 tbsp fresh yeast 

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp chilli flakes

3 tbsp butter

1 tbsp mustard sauce

10 cocktail sausages

Method

To make the dough: 

Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Mix water, yeast and sugar in a glass and let stand for about 5 minutes till the mixture starts to become frothy and bubbles to the top.

Now add the egg, salt, butter, milk (don't add all at once or else the dough becomes too sticky) and flour to form a dough.

Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. Place it in a greased bowl. Cover with a plastic and set it aside in a warm place for about an hour till it rises (FYI, this method is known as proofing) and is double in size. 

Preheat oven to 190 C.

Punch the risen dough down. Divide the dough roughly into 2 pieces and roll 1 piece on a lightly floured surface into a  rectangle. Don't worry if the sides are not even and neat. Just take a pizza  cutter and trim the edges neatly to have the perfect rectangle.

Cut these rectangles further into triangles.

Place each sausage at the wider end of the triangle and roll it up. Alternately, you can also cut the dough into 13/4 inch strips and wrap the strip around the sausage. Make sure when you do this the tips of the sausage are exposed. (Now your cute little sausages are comfortably blanketed). Place them on a greased baking tray leaving enough space between each to give them some room to rise. Brush with beaten egg to get a lovely golden glaze.

Bake in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes till they are nicely risen up and golden.

Remove from the oven and however much you might be tempted to pop these lovely treats in your wait, experience teaches me that you wait for them to cool before enjoying them.