I am brimming with excitement over this post. I was so grumpy this morning because I felt totally uninspired by everything on my gameday snack brainstorm list. I was scouring the internet for ideas and inspiration (i.e. skimming Pinterest and foodgawker) and somewhere down the line, a photo of pigs in a blanket popped up. I’m really not a fan of hot dogs or pre-made doughs, so my gut reaction was “gross.” Cue inspiration: I realized I didn’t have to use either to made a variation of pigs in a blanket that I would enjoy! I decided to swap the hot dogs for my favorite chicken breakfast sausages, and use homemade buttermilk biscuit dough in place of the traditional crescent dough. Of course, it only seemed natural to top my little clucks in a biscuit (because it’s chicken sausage wrapped in biscuit dough, get it?) with some homemade honey mustard. I’m embarrassed to admit that I ate 3 of these after I finished photographing them.
You can really use any breakfast sausage, biscuit dough, and dipping sauce you’d like for this riff on pigs in a blanket. I was toying with the idea of serving these with both a mustard and a cheese sauce, but I had just devoured some brie and crackers and didn’t really feel like eating any more cheese. Another great variation would be a traditional pork sausage with hollandaise, or a vegetarian sausage with sriracha mayo. The possibilities are endless, so I encourage you to play with the flavor profiles YOU enjoy – and please tell me what you come up with!
ingredients
- 12 breakfast sausages (I like chicken)
- 1 recipe biscuit dough
- 1/3 C honey mustard (for dipping/drizzling)
instructions
- Place a nonstick pan over medium heat and add breakfast sausages and cook on all (4!) sides until golden brown and delicious, and cooked through. If your nonstick pan isn't so nonstick, give it a light spritz of cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- Once cooked, transfer sausages to a plate and let cool 10 minutes on counter, then transfer to the refrigerator and chill through. This will take a minimum of 30 minutes, but can be done the night before (just transfer to a tupperware or resealable bag instead of the plate).
- Once the dough is mixed and folded over itself a few times, we deviate from Alton's instructions.
- On a very well-floured board, pat the dough into a half-inch thick rectangle, measuring approximately 12 x 8 inches.
- [Image below] Use a pizza wheel, if you have one, to cut the dough in half, in half again, and then into thirds. Basically, you're quartering your dough and then cutting it into thirds to yield 12 1x8 inch strips of dough. If you don't have a pizza wheel, use a chef's knife but DO NOT drag it through the dough. Press it through, then move to the end of the cut, and press it through again to complete the cut. If you've worked with puff pastry before, this should be a familiar technique to you.
- [Image below] Time to roll! Grab a chilled sausage and rest it on top of a biscuit strip, about one inch from the bottom of the strip. I like to leave about a half inch of the sausage exposed, but if you want 100% biscuit coverage, just start at the edge of the sausage. Fold the biscuit dough over the sausage, then, using one hand to hold the end of the sausage and the other hand to guide the dough, roll the sausage up the dough until you reach the top. Be sure to overlap the dough slightly as you roll it up. (The only reason you don't see me using two hands is because one was operating my camera)
- Arrange the clucks in a biscuit on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 450 for 12-18 minutes (mine took 15)
- Let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a serving dish.
- Either serve with honey mustard dipping sauce, or drizzle honey mustard over each before serving
Notes
If you don't chill your sausages down, you'll risk melting the fat in the biscuit dough and getting a less than delicious final product.
Happy eating!