12 Recipes of Christmas: Stuffed ‘pigs in blankets’

These ‘pigs in blankets’ are so full of flavour you’ll be hard-pressed to stop yourself from eating them. The cranberries, bacon and sausage meat make them a delightful Christmas treat.

You can make this dish up to two days ahead and chill the stuffing balls.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

• 85g pack sage and onion stuffing mix
• 300g sausage meat
• 90g cooked chestnuts, chopped
• 50g dried cranberries
• 12 rashers smoked streaky bacon or pancetta

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C/180 fan forced.
2. Put the stuffing mix in a bowl and pour over 150ml boiling water. Leave the mix to absorb. When cool, add the sausage meat, chestnuts and cranberries and bring everything together with your hands. Cut each rasher of bacon in half lengthways so you get 24 long strips of bacon.
3. Cross two bacon strips, then roll a walnut-sized ball of the stuffing mix and sit it on the cross. Wrap the stuffing in the bacon and sit on a lightly oiled baking tray, cross-side up. Repeat to make 12 stuffing balls.
4. Roast the stuffing balls for 25-30 minutes until the bacon is crisp and the stuffing is cooked.