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)
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:
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!
Those are so cute!! Definitely bookmarking this!
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...
:)
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 :)
CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE!
I absolutely adore this. And I love hotdogs (shame on me, I know). This is so fun!
Despite the sticky dough, these are sure some hot little doggies! Great job and I love how the dough coils perfectly around them!
Those look awesome, but *screeeeeech* (record scratch)... YOU DON'T LIKE PEANUT BUTTER?!?!?! That's just crazy talk!
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!
these are probably the prettiest corndogs i've ever seen! i'm bookmarking this for sure!
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 ...
Wow these hot dogs came out really great! I think you might have inspired me to give them a go.
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.
These would be prefect for a kids party or any party I might be at.
Corn Dogs are near-perfect food (according to Ted). I showed him these and offered to pay big bucks for a batch!
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)
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