Best Ever Pigs In Blankets & Cheese Dip

Pigs in blankets are many people’s idea of a perfect Christmas. What if I told you that you can make them even more perfect? How about adding fresh rosemary right into the blankets and dipping them into a beautifully rich & creamy honey mustard cheese dipping sauce… now we’re talkin’! Perfect on a party buffet table, lovely as a light starter and, as always, incredible on your Christmas dinner plate!

Here is what you will need to make 24.

For the Pigs In Blankets

• 24 Slices of Pancetta
• 24 Chipolata Sausages
• Few Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary, leaves torn off & finely chopped

For the Cheese Sauce

• 60g Unsalted Butter
• 30g Plain Flour
• 450ml Whole Milk
• 200g Extra Mature Cheddar Cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp Honey Mustard
• Salt & Pepper

*NOTE: it is best to have all your sauce ingredients at room temperature before you start if possible.

Pigs In Blankets Recipe

Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (or a non stick baking mat) and set to one side. Preheat your oven to 180°C/Fan 170°C.

Lay a few strips of pancetta on a chopping board & sprinkle generously with chopped rosemary.

Take a chipolata and roll diagonally along a slice of pancetta. You want your pancetta to reach from one end of the sausage to the other.

Repeat until you have used up all your ingredients then evenly space them out on your prepared baking tray.

Place the tray into the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. Turn once halfway to ensure a nice even colour.

Cheesy Mustard Dipping Sauce Recipe

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat.

Tip in the flour then whisk constantly for 3 minutes to cook out the flour.

Gradually add in the milk whilst whisking constantly. It will start out really lumpy like this…

But fear not, keep adding/whisking and it will soon look like this…

Turn up the heat to medium/high and continue to whisk for a few minutes until you feel it start to thicken slightly. Then dump in all the grated cheese.

Keep whisking until all the cheese has melted and the sauce is as thick as you like. (Note it will thicken more on cooling.)

Finally add in the honey mustard and some salt & pepper to season. Go easy on the salt though as the cheese is already very salty.

Pour the sauce into a bowl, plate up the Pigs In Blankets and serve warm or cold. I prefer warm!

These really do taste amazing! That cheese sauce is SO rich & creamy and the Pigs In Blankets are just perfect. As I mentioned before, these would be wonderful as a starter, a party snack or minus the cheese sauce – alongside your Christmas dinner. Versatile & delicious. That’s the kind of math I like to do!

As featured on Julia’s Simply Southern Meal Plan Monday #193

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