Puff Pastry Pigs in Blankets with Maple-Mustard Glaze

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The party-tray classic upgraded into a proper savoury pastry: fat little pork sausages rolled in strips of all-butter puff, brushed with a maple-mustard glaze and showered with toasted fennel and sesame seeds. They bake up shatter-crisp and lacquered on the outside, juicy inside, and they are built to be eaten standing up with a bowl of grainy honey mustard nearby. A pinch of bacon (optional, but very good) borrows from the British pub version.

Ingredients

• 12 oz pork breakfast sausage links (about 12 small links)
• 1 sheet all-butter puff pastry (about 8-9 oz), thawed but cold
• 4 slices thin-cut bacon, optional
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp whole milk
• all-purpose flour, for dusting

• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds or nigella seeds
• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
• 1/4 tsp coarsely cracked black pepper

• 1/4 cup whole-grain mustard
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 pinch kosher salt

Instructions

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 400°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Toast the fennel, sesame and caraway seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat for 60-90 seconds, shaking constantly, until the sesame is pale gold and everything smells nutty; scrape onto a plate to cool, then stir in the flaky salt and cracked pepper.
2. Cook the sausages just enough to render and firm them: place the links in a cold nonstick skillet, add 2 tablespoons water, cover and set over medium heat for 5 minutes. Uncover, pour off the liquid, and brown for 3-4 more minutes, turning, until lightly coloured all over but still slightly underdone in the centre. Transfer to a plate and cool for 10 minutes (hot sausage melts pastry). Cut each link in half crosswise for 24 bite-size pieces.
3. If using bacon, cut each slice into 6 short pieces and wrap one piece around the middle of each sausage half, pressing to stick. This is optional but gives you the pub version's smoky edge.
4. Whisk the egg with the milk for the wash. In a small bowl, stir the maple syrup with the Dijon for the glaze. In another bowl, whisk all the dip ingredients together and refrigerate until serving.
5. On a lightly floured counter, unfold the cold puff pastry and roll it just enough to even it out to roughly a 10 x 12-inch rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Cut it into 24 strips about 1/2 inch wide and 10 inches long (cut the sheet in half, then slice each half into 12 strips). If the pastry softens at any point, slide it onto a tray and chill for 10 minutes.
6. Wrap each sausage: brush a strip lightly with egg wash, set one end against a sausage piece and spiral the pastry around it with a slight overlap, leaving the cut ends of the sausage exposed. Press the tail to seal and set seam-side down on the baking sheet, spacing them 1 1/2 inches apart. Trim any pastry that overhangs by more than an inch.
7. Chill the whole tray in the freezer for 10 minutes — cold pastry into a hot oven is what gives you distinct flaky layers. Meanwhile, brush the tops with the remaining egg wash.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and set and just starting to colour. Brush each one with the maple-mustard glaze, scatter the toasted seed mix over the top, and return to the oven for 8-10 minutes more, until deep golden brown and crisp underneath (lift one to check). Internal temperature of the sausage should read 165°F.
9. Rest on the sheet for 5 minutes so the glaze sets and the pastry crisps, then pile onto a board or platter and serve warm with the grainy honey mustard for dipping.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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