Sunday, June 6, 2010

Better Than Sausage Balls

This is one of those twists to an old recipe that happened to turn out better than the original. I had the ingredients for one of our old favorite snacks, Sausage Balls--the one that has Bisquick as a main ingredient. In light of my daughter's recent post on eating more cleanly, I decided to use more natural ingredients--at least for the biscuit part! I used the sausage I had on hand, which happened to be Jimmy Dean, and it does have a couple of suspect ingredients. I have tried to make my own sausage, but I have not found the perfect recipe.

I combined parts of my old recipe for Sausage Balls from 1972 (which is when I first started making sausage balls) and Homesick Texan's flaky and delicious biscuit recipe. My most esteemed sausage ball critic, my hubby, declared these better than the original and told me I could make them for him any time! I liked them better too, especially the crunch of the little browned bits of cheese and the tenderness of the biscuit.

Sausage Balls
2 or 3 cups cubed cheese (the original recipe calls for Coon's Brand Cheese, which I cannot find anymore. I used a combination of cheddar, Manchego, and Pepper Jack)
8 oz sausage (the original recipe calls for 1 pound)
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed

Place flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in bowl of a food processor; add butter and process until the size of small peas; set aside. Melt cheese, either in microwave or over low heat in pan on stove; remove from heat add sausage, and mix thoroughly. Add flour mixture and mix with hands until mixture holds together. Form into 1 inch balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake in 375 oven about 20 minutes or until golden brown. These flatten out slightly and look more like a puffy cookie, instead of the typical ball. I sprinkled a tiny bit of sea salt of the tops after they baked.

10 comments:

  1. These look yummy Granny. What do you serve with them? I am wondering if these could be dipped in some pure maple syrup? hmmm

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey that's a great idea! Or you could make with maple flavored sausage. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. My family is crazy about sausage balls- these look so much better than the original recipe! YUM!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amy, I love both recipes! Especially the old one made with the very pungent cheese. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds delicious. Great pics too. I love sausage, so I'll have to try this recipe.
    Thanks,
    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  6. I had my first sausage ball around Christmas. I think I like them! These look good to me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Linda thanks for stopping by. These look delish. I'm trying to lose weight and I didn't stop at the store to get anything thinkin' Oh, I have a peach and a few other things to eat, I should be fine and then when I got here to the shop this morn the peach was moldy (I think nature is trying to help me lose weight) so I had to get a couple fish tacos from next door (poor me, huh?) and now I'm hungry again and I came here and saw these yummy things and I want to grab 'em off the screen and chomp 'em down. I hate dieting. Now, to answer your question about knitting, I haven't started yet. I'm still working on my 3 yr. old crochet afghan and some smaller projects. I'd love to see your progress on your quilt. Where are you going to post to? Your other blog? Let me know, thanks. Happy cooking!

    ReplyDelete
  8. My mom used to make sausage balls every Christmas. Love them, but I can't figure out a way to make them both dairy and gluten free. Your better than ones do look scrumpillitious.~~Dee

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, I have never heard of sausage balls before. These look REALLY good.

    I love finding "different" recipes like this.

    You said you sprinkled sea salt on them......do you do that to bring out the flavor or they just need salt?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Window, thanks for stopping by--I hope you do make them and let me know if you like them!

    Emily, LOL over "I think I like them". ;)

    Annielizabeth, I have the same problem when I'm trying to lose weight--I look at too many food blogs. I will probably post my quilt progress (when I finally get it started!) on this blog. I gave up for now on learning to knit.

    Dee, if I find a recipe for GF and dairy-free, I'll be sure and drop you a line!

    Alisa, I hope you like them.

    Momma's, these actually needed a little salt! Maybe my cheese wasn't as salty as that I normally use or something. And I thought sprinkling sea salt was the cool thing to do these days. ;)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for visiting!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.