Cheddar Mustard Pups
Buttery, cheesy, flakey crust that envelops little beef franks with just a touch of mustard. These are great for snacking or to serve at a party. They freeze beautify, which makes them perfect to make ahead.
The dough is a variation of a dough I’ve been making for years and is very easy to work with. It can be pinched, squeezed, rerolled, and it still bakes up great. It only takes a couple minutes to make the dough. The time involved is the chilling of the dough it needs to chill for several hours or overnight. This important step is to let the gluten to relax so as not to have a tough dough.
I’m always looking for little bites I can keep in the freezer that I can pull out when I’ve got company. These savory morsels bake off great and including preheating you can be snacking in 40 minutes or so.
Cheddar Mustard Pups
Dough:
- 1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 5 oz extra sharp Cheddar cheese (the sharper the better) about 1 1/2 cups finely grated
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into bits
- a pinch of salt and white pepper
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1 large egg
The Filling
- 1 13 oz package little beef franks (Little Smokies would be great too)
To Make the Dough
Place the flour, Cheddar, salt, and pepper in a food processor and pulse several times. Add in the butter and again pulse until it resembles coarse meal, about a minute more. Add the eggs and mustard, process just until the dough barely starts to clump together. Try not to overwork the dough. Transfer to a clean work surface and scrape any extra bits from the processor bowl. Working quickly, form into a ball. It may seem dry at first, but, if you push it against the surface it will come together. Flatten it into a ½ inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
When you are ready to make the pups.
Allow the dough to warm up for a few minutes before rolling. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out to a 10 x 16 inch rectangle. Mark along each edge at 2-inch intervals, and using a ruler cut into 2-inch squares. Place a little sausage on each square. (I had 2 sausages left over.) Bring two of the edges together over the top, making sure to pinch and flatten each seam on top of the little franks. Don’t wrap too tightly. The little pups expand as they bake. They tend to pull apart during baking if you do not make sure they are sealed.
At this point they can be put onto a wax paper lined tray and frozen. Once they are frozen solid they can be transferred to a plastic freezer bag and kept in the freezer for up to 6 months. If you are not freezing them, place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes or so before baking them off.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the little pups onto a silpat or ungreased baking sheet, placing them 2 inches apart. Bake for 20 minutes until the cheddar crust is just golden brown. Serve with ketchup, or orange marmalade or by themselves.
Makes 40 pups
