Pigs in a Blanket
Mini cocktail franks wrapped in buttery crescent roll dough - a nostalgic crowd-pleaser
- 2 canscrescent roll dough(8 oz each)
- 48cocktail franks(or 24 regular hot dogs cut in half)
- 2 tbspbutter(melted)
- 1 tbspeverything bagel seasoning(optional)
- yellow mustard(for dipping)
- ketchup(for dipping)
Can be assembled and refrigerated up to 4 hours before baking. Add 2-3 minutes to baking time.
- 1Preheat oven to 375°F and line baking sheets with parchment
- 2Unroll crescent dough and separate into triangles
- 3Cut each triangle lengthwise into 3 smaller triangles
- 4Place cocktail frank at wide end of each triangle
- 5Roll up toward point, tucking dough around frank
- 6Arrange on baking sheets seam-side down
- 7Brush with melted butter
- 8Sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning if using
- 9Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown
- 10Serve warm with mustard and ketchup for dipping
Don't unroll the perforated seams if using crescent roll sheets - you want individual triangles. Tuck the dough point under so it doesn't unroll. The everything bagel seasoning is optional but delicious. These are best served warm. Can also use puff pastry for fancier version.
Pigs in a blanket in the American cocktail-party format — cocktail sausages wrapped in crescent roll dough — became ubiquitous in the 1960s following two commercial developments: the arrival of Hillshire Farm cocktail smoked sausages in consistent national distribution, and the 1965 launch of Pillsbury's refrigerated crescent roll dough, which provided home cooks with a consistent, accessible laminated pastry wrapper that required no skill to use. The association of the name "pigs in a blanket" with sausage-wrapped-in-dough is specifically American; in the United Kingdom the same phrase refers to cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon served alongside roast turkey at Christmas dinner. In Israel, the equivalent preparation uses puff pastry wrapped around hot dogs. In Germany, Würstchen im Schlafrock (sausages in a dressing gown) describes a similar format. The universal appeal of a small, savory protein wrapped in a carbohydrate casing is reflected in these parallel traditions developing independently across multiple food cultures. The American crescent roll version became a symbol of mid-century convenience cooking, appearing in church cookbooks, community recipe collections, and Pillsbury bake-off competitions throughout the 1970s and 1980s, cementing its status as one of the most recognizable American party foods.