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I had a bit of a giggle making this Gluten Free Sausage Wreath. It was all going fine with the recipe development and then I decided to make it and film it for an Instagram Reel/TikTok video. That’s when I messed up the plait and nearly bailed on the video entirely.
However, I kept the camera rolling (good job the sound was off – the language was colourful). And you know what? It didn’t turn out half as bad as I thought.
I said to the family, as they poked fun at me, that this is real life and we can’t get things picture perfect every time – even supposedly simple Gluten Free Sausage Wreaths! So I’ve kept this version and immortalised it for you to see!
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p.s. I have this on the back of a cupboard door in my kitchen – true story!
Skip to the good bit
- What pastry can I use for this sausage wreath?
- Can I use a different jelly to cranberry?
- Can I make this sausage wreath vegan?
- How do you make this sausage wreath?
- What could I decorate my wreath with?
- How do I get a golden brown finish to my puff pastry?
- Some delicious dip ideas for your wreath
- Other savoury gluten free buffet ideas
- Gluten Free Sausage Wreath Recipe
What pastry can I use for this sausage wreath?
I use gluten free Jus-Rol pastry. Here in the UK it can be found in most supermarkets and online shops such as Ocado. The benefits to this gluten free puff pastry is that it’s also dairy and egg free, and it’s ready rolled so no need to get the rolling pin out.
Other readymade puff pastries are available such as the Genius block of puff pastry but these seem to be fewer and far between these days.
If you are overseas and have an alternative to Jus-Rol GF puff, then please do let me know in the comments and I can add your recommendations here.
Can I use a different jelly to cranberry?
You can use other fillings instead of Cranberry Jelly if you wish. Some relatives may not be able to eat cranberries for various reasons so you could use a redcurrant jelly if you wish to keep the pink/red colour tones. Alternatively, you may wish to use a caramelised onion chutney (my son’s favourite) or a Christmas spiced chutney. The options are pretty much endless and could just depend on what you happen to have in your cupboards at the time.
Can I make this sausage wreath vegan?
It would be very easy indeed to make this gluten free sausage wreath into a vegan version. I nearly did that myself for the purpose of making it again to photograph but all of the vegan sausages I had in my local corner shop had pea in them and I can’t tolerate pea (as well as egg or dairy – I know, what am I like?).
The point being that this would work superbly with a vegan sausage or even falafel filling. The Jus-Rol Gluten Free Puff Pastry is already vegan anyway and I use a dairy free and vegan glaze to brush the pastry to get a beautiful golden colour.
Let me know if you do make this totally vegan, I’d love to know what you used instead.
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How do you make this sausage wreath?
Jolly good question! While it is actually rather easy, it’s not the easiest to describe so I have created a short video for you to watch. As I mention in the introduction, it wasn’t my finest hour when it comes to plaiting pastry but hey, life’s to short to get hung up on these things. Hopefully I have demonstrated that even if things don’t go quite according to plan, the end result still looks pretty good!
What could I decorate my wreath with?
On this occasion I decided to decorate this gluten free sausage wreath with little Christmas tree cut outs. Simply use the offcuts from the pastry circle and placed them over the wreath in an overlapped fashion.
I was actually going to use star shapes but I ask the family for their opinion and was voted against with the tree idea! Personally, I think it looks better than my previous star-studded sausage wreaths!
Make sure a season the wreath really well; lots of cracked salt and pepper. I sometimes like to add sesame seeds, chia seeds, or even poppy seeds if I have them.
How do I get a golden brown finish to my puff pastry?
Now I’m letting you into my not-so-secret-secret! Gluten free puff pastry can be a fickle soul. Sometimes it refuses to go a beautiful golden colour, so to avoid taking the gamble I always brush my savoury bakes with this concoction;
1-2 tablespoons milk (I use soya milk)
1 teaspoon Henderson’s Relish. This is very much like Worchester Sauce but it’s gluten free and vegan too.
I mix the two a while before needed it and the relish sours/thickens the ‘milk’ to a lovely double cream thickness, perfect from brushing the tops of pies, pasties and rolls alike.
TOP TIP – gluten free puff pastry can be very greasy. I tend to remove the sausage wreath half way through baking and drain off the fat then return to the oven for the remaining time. This also helps with the baking process and ensures a gorgeous golden colour.
Some delicious dip ideas for your wreath
The dips you can see in the images are just simple cupboard essentials; mayo, ketchup and BBQ sauce. I choses these so my family could tuck in after I’d finished photographing the sausage wreath in all it’s glory.
You may wish to use more ‘party-worthy’ dips so here are some ideas for you (obviously go for options that are safe for you and your guests);
- Cranberry Jelly
- Garlic Mayonnaise
- Sour Cream
- Guacamole
- Spicy Tomato Salsa
- Satay Sauce
Other savoury gluten free buffet ideas
Gluten Free Sausage Wreath Recipe
If you make it and like the recipe I would be eternally grateful if you popped back and commented leaving a star rating as this will tell search engines that this recipe is worth checking out and others will get to find it in searches.
Gluten Free Sausage Wreath
Ingredients
- 560 g Jus-Rol Gluten Free Puff that's equal to 2 packets of 280g Jus-Rol
- 6-8 gluten free sausages
- 100 g dried cranberries optional
- 80 g cranberry sauce/jelly
- 2 tbsp milk or dairy free alternative to brush
- 1 tsp Henderson's Relish you can use GF Worchester Sauce
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
To prepare the puff pastry
- Roll out both sheets of ready rolled puff and stick them together long-side with a little overlap and some of the pastry wash (relish and 'milk' mixture).
- Find the biggest saucepan lid or round chopping board you have and cut a large circle with as little waste as possible.
- Take a round cutter (approx. 8 cm) and cut out a circle in the centre of the large circle. This is your pastry wreath base.
To prepare the sausage meat
- break up the sausage (remove skins if necessary) into a bowl and add a couple of handfuls of dried cranberries. Using your hands or a wooden spoon mix to combine.
To add the sausage meat
- take small pieces of sausage meat and place in the centre of the 'donut' shape with an equal amount of pastry overhang either side. Continue until you have a circle of sausage meat.
To add the cranberry jelly
- Using a couple of teaspoons, spoon the cranberry jelly over the top of the sausage circle.
To wrap the sausage meat
- Now make lots of cuts (about the width of your middle finger) away from the sausage meat towards the outside of the pastry circle. Continue to do this all the way around.
- Did you count how many cuts you made? Try to do the same on the inside of the sausage meat circle and cut into the centre of the pastry.TOP TIP: you have less room to make cuts in the centre of the pastry circle so don't worry if you make fewer cuts, it will work out, trust me!
- Now, fold the pastry tabs inside first, then outside overlap. Repeat until you have roughly 'plaited' all your pastry tabs. Gently press down to seal in place.
Decorate your wreath
- Finally you can take a festive cutter of your choice and cut out enough shapes to decorate your sausage wreath. I suggest around 16 shapes so you have enough to overlap the pattern.
- Before adding the decorations, liberally brush the wreath with your relish and 'milk' glaze. Then add the festive shapes. Repeat the glaze on the tops of each shape once decorated.
- All that is left to do is season with lots of cracked salt and pepper and pop into a pre heated oven at 220°C | 200°C fan | 425°F | Gas 7 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
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