Easy Sausage Rolls

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These easy Sausage Rolls and Empire Biscuits make the perfect meal or tasty snack for a feast inspired by Princess Merida! These Scottish inspired recipes are easy and rustic enough that any kiddo can help you prepare them – and enjoy them!

These sausage rolls are easy to make and serve as a part of a lunch, light dinner or an appetizer!
A plate of sausage rolls on a wooden table with apples in the background

 

A plate of sausage rolls and a plate of empire biscuits on a white doilie with a Merida doll and a red apple

 

 

About Princess Merida

Yay for Merida! Brave is one of those movies where you just love it from the second you see the first preview. I mean, how can a fiery red-headed part Scottish girl not love a movie about a fiery red headed Scottish girl who rides her horse and shoots her bow all over the place? Hello. This movie was made about for me. Let’s just ignore the fact that she totally disobeyed her mother, sought help from a witch and turned her mother into a bear. That’s what those unruly teenage years are all about, right? Live and Learn!

Princess Merida is one of the only princesses that we actually know where and when she was supposed to have lived! Thank you, Disney! Brave takes place in ancient Scotland around the 10th century.

A cartoon drawing of a woman feeding soup to two little girls dressed as princesses with the caption "eat like a PRINCESS: weeknight recipes to inspire and explore"

Welcome to the Eat Like A Princess Series!

I designed this series as a fun way to teach my daughters about new cultures through the classic Princesses in hopes that they will become more open to trying new foods, to understand other cultures better, and to enjoy exploring the world around them. All while still:

  • containing real food
  • be super easy
  • take about 30 minutes (or as close to it as we can).

You can see other recipes in this series here.

*This post contains affiliate links. See more about what that means on my disclosure page.

 

A plate of sausage rolls on a wooden table with apples in the background

About Scottish Cuisine

What do you think of when you think of Scottish food? I bet Haggis, Shortbread, and Porridge are at the top of the list, right? While Scottish food isn’t overly fancy, it is wholesome and filling and exactly what the ancient Scots needed to keep them warm and give them energy for their days. Soups, broths, fish, and porridge were exactly the kind of “stick to your ribs” meals they needed and mostly consisted of locally grown, raised, and hunted ingredients. Fun fact – traditionally Scotts didn’t use a lot of spices from abroad because they were hard to get and expensive.

These Scottish Sausage Rolls are an easy and fun treat – whether you serve them as part of a meal, an appetizer, or a snack. Traditionally Scotts don’t eat a lot of pork, and instead eat a lot of fish, venison (and other wild game) and beef. Usually in the US we think of sausage as being made of pork, so I thought it would be a fun change of pace to not only make our own sausage blend with beef!

The Empire Biscuits were a MUST make since they are featured in the movie (remember when Princess Merida slides a whole plate of them to her triple brothers under the table?!). I LOVED how these turned out – they are a crazy combination of a cake and biscuit – tender and flakey, dense and moist all at the same time.

 

Two white plates on a white doilie with apples and a silver serving fork. One plate has sausage rolls and the other plate has empire biscuits

 

**Note: This recipe is not intended to be 100% authentic. Princess Merida is a fictional character, ina fictional movie, and this recipe was created by me. This recipe is intended to be easy enough that children can help you prepare it and hopefully enjoy it. It is supposed to be a fun way to get kids interested in trying new foods, not an authentic recipe. It is my hope that it is interesting enough to pique their interest in new cultures and foods without being too intense or weird. 

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A white plate of empire biscuits on a wooden table with a white doilie and a silver serving fork

Get your Kids in the Kitchen:

  • Children aged 0-3 can help measure spices for the sausage, measure and mix the biscuits, and mix the frosting for the biscuits, frost the biscuits, and help place the cherries on top.
  • Children aged 4-7 can help do everything above as well as scoop out the biscuit onto baking sheets.
  • Children aged 8-12 can do everything above, as well as help mix the sausage and fill the puff pastry for each roll, as well as cut slits in the tops.

 

A white doilie on a wooden table with apples, a silver fork, a plate of empire biscuits, and a plate of sausage rolls

 

A plate of sausage rolls on a wooden table with apples in the background

Easy Sausage Rolls

These sausage rolls are easy to make and serve as a part of a lunch, light dinner or an appetizer!
5 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: 30 Minute Meal
Cuisine: Scottish
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 36 pieces
Calories: 67kcal
Author: Jenni - The Gingered Whisk

Ingredients

  • 2 egg one for recipe and one for egg wash
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • ½ cup breadcrumbs
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp dry ground mustard
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp dried parsley
  • ¾ tsp coriander
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 package prepared pie crust 2 crusts

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 425 F.
  • Line a baking tray with a piece of parchment paper or a silpat mat and set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, mix together the egg, ground beef, breadcrumbs and spices until well combined.
  • Set aside and wash your hands.
  • Cut each pie crust into 3 equal strips lengthwise, so you have 6 strips.
  • Divide the ground meat mixture into 6 equal portions and rolls each portion into a log.
  • Place each ground meat mixture log into the middle of each strip of pie dough.
  • Fold the pie dough over and around the ground meat and create a seam to seal the edges together.
  • Slice each roll into 6 pieces. (You can leave it like this, or you can kind of pull/shape the dough to form more of a pocket for the filling - either way is fine).
  • Place the meat roll onto the prepared baking tray.
  • Brush each meat pocket with an egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tsp water) and slice a few cuts into the top of each pocket with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape during baking.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
  • Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes, and then enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 67kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 47mg

A white plate of empire biscuits on a wooden table with a white doilie and a silver serving fork

Scottish Sweet Buns (Empire Biscuits)

These sweet buns are a traditional Scottish sweet. Also called Empire Biscuits. They are easy to prepare and a great cross between a bun, a biscuit, and a cake.
No ratings yet, be the first!
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Scottish
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 53 minutes
Servings: 12 Servings
Calories: 266kcal
Author: Jenni - The Gingered Whisk

Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 TBSP vanilla
  • 1 T baking powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 TBSP water
  • maraschino cherries

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and soft butter until well combined and fluffy.
  • Add in the eggs one at a time, and then stir in the milk and the vanilla.
  • Carefully mix in the flour, baking powder and salt, until just combined.
  • Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the mixing bowl.
  • Place in the fridge to for 30 minutes to chill.
  • Preheat the oven to 350F.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silat mat.
  • Drop the dough by ice cream scoop fulls onto the prepared baking sheet.
  • Bake for 7-8 minutes.
  • Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • When cool, whisk together the powdered sugar and the water in a small bow until you get the consistency you want.
  • Drizzle the frosting over the empire biscuits (or dunk the tops straight into the bowl) and then place on a wire rack.
  • Add a maraschino cherry to the top of each biscuit.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 266kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 159mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 31g

Want to see what else is in the “Eat Like A Princess Series”? Check out the full recipe collection here. 

3 images of Disney Princess inspired meals. Left, Mulan doll next to plate of sushi. Middle, Moana doll by stir fry. Right, Jasmine doll by plate of kabobs.

 

6 Comments

  1. Such a fun and delicious meal! My kids love it!

  2. Those are not empire biscuits, empire biscuits are 2 cookies with jam in between then topped with icing

  3. Catherine clark says:

    I’m from Scotland and this is an insult ! A little bit of research and you may have made these two products accurately! Sausage rolls I make daily in my shop with puff pastry and Pork sausage with coriander, all spice s&p. Empire biscuits are not the same as an American biscuits. Biscuits in Scotland are cookies so the empire biscuits should be the consistency of a sugar cookie or shortbread with raspberry jam spread between two topped with icing with a cherry or a dolly mixture gum . This infuriates me that simply googling on a Scottish website you could have made them properly not half arse guess!!

    1. Hi Catherine! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I am sorry that you are not happy with my recipe choices, however I did leave a disclaimer that my recipes were not intended to be 100% authentic – they are instead intended to to be gateways for children and families to experience and learn about new food cultures other than their own. The biscuit/cookie/scone debate is a such a big one across our ocean, and I choose to do something that was representative of what was shown in the movie, because children would be excited to try those. I try to do a lot of research on recipes from different time periods and recipe development to make sure I can get things right, but ultimately I have to choose what works best for my readers and their families. I will make a note on the post that a more traditional choice more closely resembles a cookie. Thanks again for your comment!

    2. Thank you!! I would have taken these to Christmas supper (with my Scottish sister-in-law in attendance) and really looked the fool! Your description of the empire biscuit made me want one right this very second. I can’t wait to make the real deal.

  4. Catherine says:

    I get you want to show different cultures but accuracy and making these products Americanized is like me taking an American dish and altering then presenting it as American ! People don’t get true culture if it’s altered ! Biscuit /scone are the same texture but taste different but there is no mistake we call a cookie a biscuit no debate! I make traditional food all day everyday and that’s not haggis, we have healthy and hearty foods. I can send you true Scottish recipes that have been passed down through generations

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