Dorothy Dean presents: Oink, oink! Monkey (bread) around with pigs in a blanket

This Saturday honors a classic finger food that just about everyone loves: pigs in a blanket.

Observed on April 24, National Pigs in a Blanket Day celebrates the bite-sized snacks made with savory little smokies wrapped in crescent dough and baked to buttery, flaky perfection.

Credited for publishing the recipe in a 1957 cookbook, Betty Crocker made it a household name. In the 1960s, they were found at every cocktail party and were the coveted after-school snack.

This recipe puts a spin on the traditional cooking method by snuggling them in a Bundt pan and turning them into a scrumptious, pull-apart-style monkey bread.

Using little cocktail smokies, cheese and canned crescent dough, these bake up into beautifully golden bites of juicy, cheesy deliciousness.

Served alongside ketchup, honey mustard or beer cheese, this dippable appetizer is versatile and can be made in advance, making it perfect for potlucks, barbecues and picnics.

The cocktail sausages can be swapped out for Vienna sausages, breakfast sausages or hot dogs cut into 1½-inch pieces. Biscuit, pizza or pretzel dough can be used instead of crescent dough.

Other cheeses like pepper jack, mozzarella or Swiss are a few alternatives to cheddar. You can also try adding dill pickle slices into the roll-ups.

To make them a day or two in advance, just cover them in plastic wrap and refrigerate them after rolling, then transfer them into a Bundt pan for baking.

Pull Apart Pigs in a Blanket

Adapted from tablespoon.com.

2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls

6 slices cheddar cheese (about 4-4.5 ounces total), each cut in 8 pieces

48 little smokies (cocktail-size sausages, from two 12- to 14-ounce packages)

Ketchup and/or mustard for serving

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees. Generously spray a 10-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray, then set it aside.

Unroll both packages of the dinner rolls and separate them into triangles for 16 total.

Cut each triangle lengthwise into three narrow triangles. For each roll-up, place one piece of cheese and one sausage on the widest end of a triangle. Roll toward the pointed end of the triangle.

Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Arrange the roll-ups randomly in the prepared pan at different angles and stacking as necessary. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the crescents in the center of the pan are cooked through (at least 195 degrees).

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Loosen the bread from the edges and the center of the pan, and invert onto a serving plate. Drizzle with ketchup and/or mustard before serving.

Audrey Alfaro can be reached at spoonandswallow@yahoo.com.