Cooking before freezing?

[chadspad]

I want to make some sausage rolls ready for xmas day and freeze them. Would I cook them first? My recipe book doesnt say. Cheers

[Pilsbury]

I wouldnt bother cooking them first, if you do there is a good chance the light and flaky pastry will be crushed or damaged.
I would probably just make them, eggwash them and freeze them raw then cook from frozen like an ordainary shop bought cocktail sausage roll.

[2steps]

I would freeze them uncooked and then cook them when needed

[chadspad]

Thanks both! What about mince pies - would the same apply?

[wulf]

It works fine to pre-cook them, especially if you are going to be reheating them with a microwave rather than tying up the oven for the full cooking period. Even with oven-based reheating, a frozen pre-cooked item should be ready more quickly, which could be important when trying to juggle timings for the oven-space.

Wulf

[2steps]

I would freeze mince pies uncooked too. I agree they would be fine cooked too but just means you need to pack them careful so the pastry doesn't get broken

[chadspad]

Would I need to defrost them to cook them first or will they be OK from frozen? Thats for both sausage rolls & mince pies please

[2steps]

I cook sausage rolls from frozen. we don't eat mince pies so I can't say as ones I've made have always been for other people

[chadspad]

OK, thanks for your help.

To carry on the xmas food theme, I also wanna make vol-au-vents fillings - will these then be able to be frozen? I will probably buy the empty cases. Has anyone got some good recipes for fillings?

[Merry]

I also bake frozen sausage rolls from frozen but you need to make sure that the sausage meat cooks through as the pastry will defrost and cook quite quickly.
I usually put a loose piece of foil over them when they`re browned so that the meat can cook without the pastry over-browning.

[Pilsbury]

vol au vent fillings can be anything you like put in a blender and whizzed with cream or mayo. I often do smoked salmon or ham, cream cheese with herbs, mushroom duxell(sp), egg mayo, tuna, prawn, ect. if you are freezing them then you cant use the cream or the mayo but it normally only takes a min in the blender to make them up. If you want to do them early i suggest disposable piping bags. make up your fillings and fill the piping bags but dont cut off the tip and twist the end closed and then just keep them in the fridge, when it is time to do the vol au vents lay out the empty cases on the tray, snip off the end of the bag and pipe into the cases, i can fill 100 in just under 3 mins
ww.lakelandlimited.co.uk/product.aspx/!2664
sorry couldn't make the link for some reason but put another w in the front

[Merry]

They sound yummy! I`ll be having a go with them
Could you just use the usual piping bags instead of disposable ones?
I suppose it would be difficult to store them in the fridge though.
Hmm - I`ll ponder that one.

[Pilsbury]

You can use ordinary bags but you need a few, 1 for each flavour and you will need to cover the open tip as well.

[Merry]

Yeah - you`re right. I thought of putting a paper clip over the tip but, of course, I wouldn`t be able to put the nozzle in would I? Durr!

[Pilsbury]

When i use the disposable ones i dont bother with a nozle at all cos i can just snip off the bag to the size opening i want, it meants it comes out in a smooth line not a star nozzle but after you stick a prawn or bit of diced pepper on top lets be honest how many of us study the vol au vent filling before poping the whloe thing in our mouth??