Neelys Pigs In A Blanket Recipes

Steps:

• Make the pastry: Cut each stick of frozen butter into four pieces and grate using a shredding disc in a food processor. Change to the regular blade. Add the 1 1/2 cups flour and pulse 15 or 20 times, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the sour cream and pulse until the dough comes together. (This can also be done by hand, using a box grater to shred the butter, working the flour into it with your fingertips or a fork, then mixing in the sour cream.)
• Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead briefly to form a smooth ball. Divide the dough in half and flatten each piece. Place each in a zipper-top sandwich bag, press out any air, seal the bag and use a rolling pin to roll the dough until it fills the bag, forming a square. Refrigerate two hours or overnight.
• Make the pigs in a blanket: Heat a 10-inch skillet, preferably cast-iron, on medium. If your cocktail franks came in a plastic package, pat them dry on paper towels. Place the franks in the pan and cook, turning, frequently, until they're lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels. Let cool to room temperature.
• Remove dough from sandwich bags by cutting the bags and peeling them off. Roll each square of dough on a lightly floured board into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle that is about 1/8-inch thick. Cut each into four 9-by-3-inch strips, then cut each strip crosswise into six 1 1/2-inch sections. You should have 48 rectangles that are each 1 1/2 by 3 inches.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil.
• Place a cocktail frank on each piece of dough, across the rectangle so the longer side can be wrapped around the frank. Roll the dough around the frank, moisten the edge with water and press closed. Place each wrapped frank seam side down on the baking sheet.
• Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Serve at once or let cool and refrigerate or freeze, then let come to room temperature and warm at 250 degrees for 15 minutes. Serve with mustard alongside for dipping.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Measure 2 cups of flour into a bowl, add the salt and grated cheese and mix lightly with a fork. Pour the milk into a measuring cup to come up to 1-cup mark and then crack in the egg and add the oil. Beat to combine, then pour into the dry ingredients, forking to mix as you go. You may, at the end, feel the dough's either too dry or too damp: add either more milk or more flour and fork together again until you've got a soft dough that's not too sticky to be rolled out.
• Break the dough into 2 pieces and roll 1 piece on a lightly floured surface. Scone dough is a dream to work with; in fact, I find it deeply pleasurable. Just roll as clumsily and heavy handedly as you like: no harm will come to it. You want a thin, but not exaggeratedly so, rectangle. A square wouldn't be the end of the world either, so don't start getting out the geometry set: this is the roughest of instructions.
• Cut the dough into approximately 1 3/4-inch strips, and then cut each strip at approximately 2 1/2-inch intervals so that you end up with a collection of small, raggedy oblongs (I just cut each strip as I go, but it's probably more efficient to do the whole batch of dough at 1 time).
• Take a cocktail sausage and put it at 1 end of an oblong at a slight diagonal and then roll up, pressing on the infinitely compliant dough to squeeze it shut, and then place on a nonstick baking sheet, or 1 lined with parchment. Carry on until you've finished all your strips and then get to work with the remaining dough. Three baking sheets should do it.
• Now, dip a pastry brush into the beaten egg mixture and paint on the pastry for a golden glaze. Put in the oven and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, by which time they should be puffy and burnished. Remove from the oven and let cool a little before giving them to the children.

Steps:

• On a lightly floured work surface, roll each pastry sheet out into a 12-inch square, then cut into 4-inch squares. Lightly brush lower half of each square with mustard, center a sausage on mustard-coated edge, and brush top inch with egg. Roll sausages in pastry, pressing seams to tightly seal. Brush tops with egg, then sprinkle with poppy seeds or flaky salt. Cut each at an angle into thirds. Freeze pigs in blankets, uncovered, on a parchment-lined baking sheet until firm.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place frozen pigs in blankets 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 25 minutes. Serve warm with mustards.