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Cold or hot these sausage rolls taste delicious. Less than an hour to prepare and cook, the pastry will fill your kitchen with a delicious aroma as they cook in the oven.

Our step by step pictures lead you through the process to make it all so simple.

KEY POINTS

INGREDIENTS
The basic ingredients are shown in the recipe picture below. Note that we show the shortcrust pastry already made. The ingredients and the method for making shortcrust pastry are fully shown below with lots of helpful pictures and advice.

SHORT CRUST PASTRY INGREDIENTS
The basic ingredients for the Shortcrust pastry are twice the amount of flour to fat. The recipe below will be enough to make 12 mince pies with a bit left over for error.

NOTES
In our recipe we have used Cooking margarine and cooking fat / lard. It is quite possible to simply use Cooking margarine or a mix of butter and fat / lard. We have found our mixture produces the best shortcrust pastry. Whatever is used the proportions of fat to flour should be maintained - twice the weight of flour to that of the fat.

Step by step pictures on making the shortcrust pastry are shown below but you can also view out video for a practical demonstration by clicking here.

The only other ingredients required are 250g (10 oz) of sausage meat and a splash of milk.

CLICK ANY PICTURE BELOW TO ENLARGE IT

Add the margarine and cooking fat to a large bowl (cut into lumps) and sieve in the flour. Do this from as high as possible to incorporate air into the flour as it falls. Incorporating air into the mixture will give you a lighter and better shortcrust pastry.

Gently rub the flour, and margarine / lard together with your hands lifting them and letting the mix drop back into the bowl. This will help more air into the mixture. The mixture should end up as small crumbs although some larger bits may be present. Don't overdo this stage, it should only take two or three minutes.

Wrap the mix in cling film and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to 'rest'. After it has rested for 30 minutes it is ready to be rolled out.

Turn the oven on, setting it to 200°C / 400°F / Gas 6.

Divide the sausage meat into three roughly equal portions. With your hands, roll one portion of the sausage meat into a tube shape about 25cm (one foot long). Do the same with the other two portions.

Roll the pastry round the sausage once. Trim the pastry as shown in the picture. Note that we have left a flat bit of pastry attached. Now roll the rube onto the flat bit so that no seam is visible from the top. This will also stop the meat oozing out from the pastry.

Use a knife to cut each of the strips of sausage roll into the length you prefer. We cut each of ours into three. Use a knife to cut a few small ridges in the top of each sausage roll, this makes them look more attractive when cooked. Brush the top of the sausage rolls with a little milk to give the a golden brown colour when cooked.

Lightly grease the baking tray, place the sausage rolls on it and put it in the middle of a pre-heated oven (200°C / 400°F / Gas 6) for 25 minutes or until the pastry is light golden brown. Do not open the door until at least 20 minutes has passed.

Sausage rolls can be eaten hot or cold. They reheat very well either in a conventional oven or a microwave.