Homemade Sausage Rolls (Freezable Snack)

This homemade recipe is an absolute staple in my house.

Sausage rolls are a very common snack in Australia and no party or gathering is complete without them! This recipe is great because you can freeze them so that you can always have a snack ready and waiting for you in the freezer. You just whack them in the oven whenever you feel like and BANG! Delicious sausage roll for a snack :D

- 1 small/medium onion, finely diced (or minced)

- 1 medium carrot, grated

- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

- 1 Tbsp tomato paste

- 1 tsp powdered garlic

- 1 tsp ground black pepper

- ½ tsp dried parsley/ Italian herbs

- 2 cups fresh fine breadcrumbs

- 2 eggs

- 400g sausage mince

- 400g beef mince

- 3 sheets frozen puff pastry

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp milk

- Sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional)

Peel and finely grate the carrot. This helps give a great taste into the sausage rolls and also helps to keep the mixture soft.

Peel and cut the onion in half and then with each half make 3/4 horizontal slices into the onion but not completely through. Then chop the onion vertically and very finely to get the perfect onions. They are used in this recipe again for flavour but also there are certain enzymes in onions that can soften the meat.

- Large mixing bowl

- Pastry brush

- Knife

- Baking tray and baking paper

- Kitchen measuring scale (if you want to divide mixture evenly)

Place all the main ingredients together in the mixing bowl, including sauces and spices (not the milk, single egg or puff pastry). With your hand (or a spoon) mix it all together until it is evenly combined. I recommend using your hands because it is easier to mush all the ingredients together.

*NOTE* It is best to have a mixture of sausage mince and beef as you need a little bit of fat in here for flavour. Also, if you just have low fat beef it can get a bit dry.

Separate the meat mixture into about 6 even bits. For me my mixture was about 1.3kg, divided by 6 half pieces of puff pastry. so, it was about 220grams of mixture for sausage roll. (this is for 3 sheets of puff pastry cut in half, if you are using 4 full sheets then divide the mixture into 8 about 162.5grams, but this will alter cooking time)

Let the puff pastry sit out of the freezer for about 5 minutes and then cut each sheet in half, so that you have 6 pieces of pastry in total (3 full sheets of pastry).

Take one portion of the meat mixture and mould it into a long cylindrical shape and place it in the centre of the puff pastry rectangle. Wrap the meat with the puff pastry on one side then bring the other side and wrap them together over the meat. Then pinch the pastry together and place the sausage roll ‘seam’ down onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Cut the long sausage rolls into your desired size (I usually make 3 cuts, getting 4 pieces from each roll, 24 small snack sized rolls per recipe). Make sure you space them out evenly.

*NOTE* This is the point at which you freeze the sausage rolls. They are a great make ahead snack! When you cook them from freezing just follow the next instructions

*If making from Frozen follow instructions exactly the same way*

Prepare the egg was with 1 egg and 1 tsp of milk and whisk it together with a fork.

Then take a pastry brush and coat each individual sausage roll with the egg wash.

*OPTIONAL* Sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds over the top before baking, you can also make a few slits in the top of the roll for a different look.

Once each roll is covered in egg wash and decorated, in a preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius for fan-forced oven bake them for about 20 minutes and then lower the heat to 180 degrees for another 10 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with your favourite sauce or on their own. They have a beautiful flavour on their own as well!