Veggie sausage and apple rolls

For some people it's bacon or roast chicken, but for me one of the few things that I really miss from my meat eating days is sausage rolls. I first made these in December and they were so successful that my family asked me to make another batch.

They are simple to make, if a little frustrating at points (but that might be my fault because I am quite impatient).

Ingredients for about 16 rolls:

Approx. 300g puff pastry
6 vegetarian sausages (I used a mix of Cumberland and Lincolnshire made by Cauldron)
1 apple
1 egg, beaten

Method:

1. Peel the apple and cut it into the smallest sized pieces you can be bothered to do.

2. Crumble/disintegrate the sausages into a large bowl and add the apple pieces and salt and pepper. Leave to one side while you focus on the pastry.

This can either be a really fun or disgusting stage, depending on you.

3. Pastry-wise, I used about 3/4 of a packet (see image). Roll it out on a well-floured and large chopping board until it is about 0.2cm thick, 15cm wide and vaguely rectangular in shape. Then divide the pastry in half.

4. Now get back to your bowl of fake meat. Roll it into sausage-like structures and place these in the centre of the pastry, as you can see above. Try and get a good apple to meat substitute ratio.

5. Brush the egg onto each side of the pastry. Now fold over one side of the pastry so that it elegantly meets the other. This is the tricky part, you need to be sure you have enough pastry to play with here. Once the sides have been nicely married, use a knife to make horizontal cuts to seal the deal.

6. Cut the rolls into bite-sized pieces (approx 5cm, but it's up to you really). Brush the remaining egg over them so they go nice and golden brown.

They are going to get better, I promise.

7. Bake at 200°C (180°C fan) for 22 minutes.

And that's it! I defy anyone not to enjoy these. Alice