Puff Pastry Pigs in Blankets

Cut pastry strips slightly narrower than frank length so meat peeks out both ends attractively. Don't skip the mustard layer - it adds crucial flavor and helps pastry adhere. Use all-butter puff pastry for best results. These are best within 2 hours of baking.

Puff pastry-wrapped sausages — particularly around the British New Year and Christmas tradition — are one of the most beloved party foods in the English-speaking world. In the United Kingdom, the term "pigs in blankets" specifically refers to small sausages wrapped in bacon; the puff pastry version is called "sausage rolls" and is a staple of British bakeries, school lunchboxes, and party platters. The sausage roll format — pork sausage meat in a puff pastry casing — has been documented in British baking since at least the early 19th century, appearing in cookbooks and bakery descriptions through the Victorian era. The use of flaky or puff pastry was made possible by the French technique of laminated pastry dough perfected by French bakers in the 17th century, documented in French culinary texts and disseminated throughout Europe. In Jewish cooking, the principle of wrapping meat in pastry has roots in knishes and other Old World pastry preparations brought to the United States by Eastern European immigrants. Commercial puff pastry sheets, available in American grocery freezer sections from the 1980s onward under brands including Pepperidge Farm, democratized puff pastry-wrapped preparations entirely. The American "pigs in blankets" version using crescent roll dough (Pillsbury's 1965 product launch) and the British sausage roll format both remain current, the former more common at American parties and the latter at British ones.