Piggies in a Blanket

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Although this is an easy and quick version of a “Kolache”, I have recently been experimenting with different ways to make a delicious, easy, snack which has turned into a favorite in our house.  This recipe is great for left-over meat or lunchmeat that needs to be used up. I haven’t bought canned biscuits in ages, but I recently bought a 4-pack of them and a bag of little smokies.  I made a batch of piggies in a blanket.  We were still craving them when all the little smokies were gone.  So I had some thin sliced lunchmeat.  I sliced the thin ham lengthwise and rolled it up, added some cheese, and they tasted as good if not better than the original recipe.  Still craving the little rascals, but out of ingredients, I made my own batch of biscuit dough, made a meat filling using sausage and sauted potatoes. I wanted to share this recipe, because it is not only easy and inexpensive to make, but very versatile.  With turkey left-overs, this is a great way to use up those left-overs.  Just add a little provolone, mozzerella, or parmesan to the turkey.  I read somewhere where instead of canned biscuits, you can use the canned crescent rolls, because they come out flakier.  The sky is the limit with this recipe.  Only the limits of your imagination will interfere with your creation.

Ingredients

1 bag little smokies (Hillshire Farm’s– near the hot dogs and sausage)
2 cans of canned biscuits (10 in a can)
sliced cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. (use the manufactuers settings here)
Open the biscuits and roll it out using a rolling pin or using your fingers, make it very flat and as big as you can.  Place a little smokie and a slice of cheese about the size of the little smokie on the flat dough and fold it.  Pinch the outer sides together to keep everything inside.  Place on cookie sheet. Repeat this step till all the biscuits are used up. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

These taste great when served with creamy white gravy.  Gravy recipe below.

Other Fillings:

Sausage and sauted potatoes

1 package of Jimmy Dean regular sausage
2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
2 Tbsn oil
1 tspn Kosher salt
½ tspn course ground Black Pepper

In a large skillet, break up the sausage into small crumbles and brown until done.  Add the potatoes and a little oil.  Season with salt and pepper. When done, set it aside to cool. You can prepare these like the little smokie recipe above, or make your own dough using the recipe that follows:

Biscuit recipe

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ cup shortening
¼ cup butter
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups of milk
2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or a fork, add the shortening and butter and combine until mixture resembles course crumbs. Add milk and mix until it forms a ball of dough.  Add flour to your hands to keep it from sticking.

Using a lighlty floured surface, place some of your dough and roll it out using a floured rolling pin.  Using a knife, slice it into squares.  Set the squares aside to be used in the recipe above.  Any extra dough can be refrigerated and made into biscuits or more roll-ups. Prior to baking - brush the tops with melted butter and they should come out flakier.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until done, lightly golden on top.

Gravy Recipe

2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs oil
3-4 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 cup milk

In a saucepan, heat the butter and oil until the butter melts. Add your flour and stir with a whisk.  After the flour is absorbed, add 1 cup cold milk.  Place a lid on it – I usually cook this on medium-high, but stir frequently.  When it starts to warm up, turn the heat down to medium (you don’t want this to boil over and ruin your stove top!). Don’t forget to stir frequently.  Once it comes to a boil, remove the lid, turn the heat down some more.  Keep cooking – you want to cook the flour taste out.  Add your salt and pepper.  When it is done, turn down to low or remove from heat and serve. If it gets too thick, add more milk or even a little water should help.  If you need to thicken it up, add a little cold water to a measuring cup and about 1-2 Tbsp of flour, stir to mix well to get the lumps out, then add to the gravy.  I know when I make gravy, and it sits on the stove top, it tends to get too thick, so I just add a little water sometimes to thin it out again. Any extra can be refrigerated and used within a day or two.