Today is National Pigs in a Blanket day! I haven’t had these in a while…but I definitely remember my mom making them for me when I was a kid. I think I’m going to make these one of these days…but maybe using a reduced fat hot dog and whole wheat pizza dough..for my “healthy junk food” nights.

It is believed that the dough wrapped sausage tradition began in Germany. The dish is called Würstchen im Schlafrock (“Sausage in a Nightgown”). It consists of bratwurst wrapped in bacon, then completely covered with pastry dough and baked in the oven.
In the United Kingdom, “pigs in blankets” refers to small sausages wrapped in bacon. Usually served at Christmas lunch or with roast dinners, pigs in blankets are now considered an essential part of the Christmas meal. It is believed that they were introduced into the Christmas lunch by the early Victorians, who wanted to maintain the religious aspect of the Christmas meal by likening them to the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.

In the United States, the term “pigs in a blanket” often refers to hot dogs or Vienna sausages wrapped in biscuit dough or croissant dough, and baked. A common variation is to slit the hot dog or sausage and stuff it with cheese (we love our cheese) before wrapping in dough (of course you gotta go with Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough!).

For the Kiddies in Israel: Moshe Ba’Teiva (Moses in the Ark) is a children’s dish consisting of a hot dog rolled in a ketchup-covered sheet of puff pastry or phyllo dough and baked.