Hedgehogs

We had a potluck SCA event today. I wasn't sure what to bring, so I went with an old stand-by: hedgehogs!

Little pork sausage meatballs decorated with toasted sugared slivered almonds (for spines) and dried currants (for eyes).

I like them with currants much better than when I made this before with raisins cut in half (if I recall correctly). They were the perfect size and nice and firm and none of them popped out during the baking process.

Mix

• 2 pound pork sausage (I used the contents from beer bratwursts ('cuz that's what TJ's had)
• roasting salt
• galangal
• Duke's powder II

Use a tiny scoop to form balls of pork mixture.
Toast almond slivers dusted with superfine sugar (I put regular sugar through my coffee grinder as spice grinder) in a dry pan over medium heat for a few minutes until just starting to brown. Toss occasionally.

This step takes much longer that you think it might...
Insert seven almond "spines" in each ball: 1 in the center and 6 around it, all leaning somewhat towards the back.

Stick two currants for eyes on the front of each ball. I use a thumb and forefinger and insert both of them at once. Try for currants that are somewhat matched in size/shape. If you don't have currants you can use raisins cut in half. This is what I used to do, but the currants work much better. I get mine at Stone Cottage.

I baked them at 350 until the internal temp was about 160 then I turned it up for a few minutes to try to get a little more browning.

Next time: I'd bake them in a hotter oven to get a little more browning, though you have to keep an eye on the almonds to make sure the tips don't burn.