Thursday, September 3, 2009

Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog

The things you do for love..... For the first time, in probably what I would estimate to be about 17 years, I consumed a hot dog. I don't avoid hot dogs because I am some kind of food snob - trust me. I will woof that Grade F Taco Bell meat in a MexiMelt or praise the flavor of a McDonald's hamburger in a second. I eat a ton of things that aren't considered to be gourmet by many, but I just don't do hot dogs. I don't know why I stopped eating them as I am sure I partook as a child, but I know that nowhere in my recent memory have I even tried a nibble. Hot Dogs fall on my beans, salsa, peanut butter, white milk list - don't eat them, don't wonder about how they would taste, don't care if they fell out of existence.

But then there is Forrest. He asked for Hot Dogs this weekend. Sure, I could have purchased an 8 pack of buns and a 10 pack of dogs and let him figure out the math. But I felt compelled to really fulfill his request in a special way. For those of you that don't know us personally I need to provide a little background. Forrest is really good to me. Not like, "I love my wife so I treat her nice" good. He treats me like a queen. Of course I think I deserve it, but that is a different story. So when he asked for dogs I wanted to give him "knock your socks off" dogs. I actually had this recipe bookmarked to make with my 4 year old nephews one day, but decided I would give it a try for my very kind husband first.

At no point during the planning, purchasing and preparing of this recipe did I think that I would actually eat the hot dog. I was just going to make this special treat for him and allow him to eat the leftovers as long as they hung around. The truth is that this recipe wasn't easy. This dough was a mess to work with. I struggled with it for an extended period. After a long time of kneading, waiting for it to rise, rolling it into tiny strands, and wrapping it around the franks I felt that it would be a shame to not try the results. So I tried one and it was good. Not "I am a converted hot dog lover" good, but good. Forrest raved about them, so I think if you normally like dogs they must have turned out well.

Baked Mini Corn Dogs
Adapted from the Food Network Magazine

Ingredients
  • 1 cup reduced-fat milk
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
  • 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and kneading
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or paprika
  • 12 reduced-fat All Beef hot dogs, halved crosswise
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional)
Directions

Warm the milk to about 110 degrees in a saucepan; pour into a medium bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and let soften for about 2 minutes.

Stir in the olive oil, brown sugar and cornmeal with a wooden spoon.

Add the flour, salt, baking soda and cayenne pepper;

stir to make a sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead with heavily floured hands (this is very sticky dough), adding more flour if needed (and you will need to add more), until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Meanwhile, insert a wooden stick or small skewer into each hot dog half, about 1 inch deep; set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (the original recipe called for 450 degrees, but I felt that my dough got a little to dark, so I would suggest bring the temp down to 400) and lightly oil a large baking sheet. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. With your palms, roll each piece into a 10-inch length.

Wrap each piece around a hot dog half, tucking and pressing the edges to seal;

place on the baking sheet.

Brush the dough-wrapped dogs with the beaten egg; sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired. Bake until golden, 15 minutes.

15 comments:

Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction said...

Wow - those look pretty good. I can't say I'm a huge hot dog fan, either... I eat them occasionally, but don't generally go looking for them. I think my hubby would love these, though, so I think I might have to give them a try!

Anonymous said...

Those are so cute!! Definitely bookmarking this!

Cupcakes with Nic said...

I'm not really a hot dog fan -- I'll eat one occasionally if I'm at a barbeque or something, but generally I don't. These look so pretty though -- might have to try them for some kind of get together -- I don't think I could eat that many on my own...

:)

Tiffiny Felix said...

Only in my fantasies is there a corndog that isn't deep fried. Holly molly, I cannot wait to try these! Thanks so much for posting this :)

Molly Jean said...

CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE!

I absolutely adore this. And I love hotdogs (shame on me, I know). This is so fun!

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Despite the sticky dough, these are sure some hot little doggies! Great job and I love how the dough coils perfectly around them!

ErinsFoodFiles said...

Those look awesome, but *screeeeeech* (record scratch)... YOU DON'T LIKE PEANUT BUTTER?!?!?! That's just crazy talk!

NikiTheo said...

I'm not a huge hot dog fan either. I have to be really really cravy one and usually all i can get my hands on is a chili cheese dog from Portillo's (it's in Chicago). But the other day I had a pretzel dog from Auntie Anne's pretzel place in the mall and OMG those were sooooo good!!! I'm using the pretzel recipe I just found to make those!!!! Hopefully, that dough will be easier to use than the corn dough you had to use!

teresa said...

these are probably the prettiest corndogs i've ever seen! i'm bookmarking this for sure!

Anonymous said...

So funny that we both made these right around the same time! I'm glad to hear that you found the dough to be very sticky as well. I was pretty much afraid I was going to have to throw the whole batch away ... it was that sticky.

Stickiness aside, they were such a hit at my mini-food party that I'd certainly make them again! I'm already dreaming up a jalepeno-cheddar version .... yum ...

Anonymous said...

Wow these hot dogs came out really great! I think you might have inspired me to give them a go.

Kerstin said...

I've always been a huge mini bagel dog fan, so I know I would love these! How sweet you made such a fun treat for your hubby.

Woody said...

These would be prefect for a kids party or any party I might be at.

Caroline said...

Corn Dogs are near-perfect food (according to Ted). I showed him these and offered to pay big bucks for a batch!

Mo said...

Hi,

I'm the same way with hot dogs..up until today.

Hot dogs have always been "meh" to me but...early today I tried a "premium" extra long "beef frank" and omg...I've never eaten a hotdog quite that good.

Apparently there is a whole underground "gourmet hotdog" culture.

I actually like the high quality hot dogs! who would of knew. I don't remember the brand off hand. But from now on I'll eat a hotdog as long as its the *gourmet* kind! hehe

I'm going to try this recipe soon. It got me thinking about Auntie Annes pretzel hot dogs (which is the only hotdog I'd actually eat)