Obvs the best bit of Christmas dinner

These are my apple caramel pigs in blankets.

Who doesn’t love a pig in a blanket? I’m sorry to all of my American followers but this is one of the things that we just do better – sausages wrapped in bacon? Yes please. You can make these your own with different flavours of sausages, so try out some herby ones, caramelised onion ones and my personal favourite, black pepper chipolatas.

Pork on pork

The amount of sausages you need is completely up to you. For Christmas dinner, I like to do 2 chipolatas per person, plus a few extras for chefs treats/leftovers. If you’re not snaffling atleast 3 of these when they come out of the oven, who are you?

It’s super simple – grab your chipolata and wrap one rasher of smoked streaky bacon around it. That’s it! Place them on a lined baking tray and cover with clingfilm, then pop into the fridge until you’re ready to cook. Pigs in blankets are a perfect dish to prepare in advance of your festive dinner, as you can wrap them all up and freeze them for around 6 months.

If you make your pigs in blankets with little cocktail party sausages, then they make a delicious canapé! Or a snack alongside a buffet with a little cranberry sauce dip.

When you’re ready to cook, roast at 200ºc/400ºf for around 15 minutes, until the sausage is cooked through and the bacon is crispy.

Apple Caramel

So an apple caramel is something I got taught to make in restaurants a long time ago, and then promptly forgot it existed.  It’s tangy, sweet and buttery, what more could you ask for?

For this you only need 2 ingredients:

• 500ml/17fl oz concentrated apple juice – the most sugary, fake apple juice you can get,
• 100g/3.5oz unsalted butter per 500ml/17fl oz apple juice, cold and cubed

This makes a much bigger batch than you’ll need for your pigs in blankets, but it’s hard to do it any smaller due to reducing the apple juice. I’d recommend keeping the rest in an airtight container in the fridge and drizzling over vanilla ice cream when you have your apple crumble, or eating like apple sauce with pork.

Pour all of your juice into a pan and place over a medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then leave to reduce until you have around 150-200ml/5oz apple juice left. It will become thick and syrupy, which is just what we want! When it gets to this stage, keep it on the heat and throw in the butter a few cubes at a time while whisking constantly. Keep adding butter until it becomes a thick caramel consistency, then remove from the heat.

Glaze ’em up

Grab your delicious apple glaze and brush all over the crispy pigs in blankets just before you serve. This is a step above honey mustard or hot honey (although that is still delicious), and one that everyone will be talking about on your Christmas dinner table.

If you’re looking for some more fabulously festive recipes, have a little look at my Youtube channel, you might just find a spud or two as well.