I am sooooo bad. I KNOW I shouldn’t cook like this. I know it, I know it, I know it! But I did. And my little experiment turned out too wonderfully well 🙂 Who knew homemade corn dogs were so easy to make?! I guess there is no need to go to the fair now, or to make that once every other year stop at the Hot Dog On A Stick outlet in the mall!

I made mini corn dogs, so that counts for something, right?  I cut each bun length hot dog into 3 pieces, speared each piece with a good quality toothpick, rolled it around in the cornbread batter, and then placed it in the <gasp> hot fat to <gasp, gasp> deep fry!

Delicious outcome though 🙂

We—my son, my daughter, my grandson, and my houseguest—ate them standing at the stove, putting the mustard and ketchup on the paper towel I was draining the corn dogs on. Dip, bite, mmm. Dip, bite, mmmm. Dip, bite, mmmmmm . . . .

Tes At Home led me astray. I followed her directions exactly. NOT. But, the only thing I’ve added is a suggested temperature for the hot oil. And I did increase the salt in the cornbread a bit. And I rewrote the directions just a bit, just to make them sound more like me…, BUT! The recipe is ALL Tes At Home 🙂

Mini Corn Dogs

INGREDIENTS

• 6-8 hot dogs, your choice—all beef, turkey, Kosher, vegan, super premium, ultra bargain discount, regular length or bun length, it doesn’t matter 🙂 Whatever you’ve got is good.
• 1 cup corn meal
• 1 cup flour
• Additional flour for coating the hot dogs—2-3 tablespoons
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2½ tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• Oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the hot dogs in boiling water for few minutes—I know, they’re already precooked, but do it anyway so they can get all that plumping business out of the way. Remove cooked hot dogs from the water, drain, and set aside.
2. Combine corn meal, flour, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk egg and sugar until sugar is dissolved, then stir in milk.
4. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir well. Let the batter rest in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
5. Heat oil in the deep fryer over the medium heat.
6. If desired, cut hot dogs into halves or thirds. Spear each piece with a good quality toothpick.
7. Roll hot dog pieces in flour and then dip into the corn bread batter, coating well. The cornbread batter coats surprisingly well. No worries there!
8. When the oil reaches 365°, place the cornbread covered, toothpick skewered, hot dog into the hot oil. I have a small pan for deep frying, so I could only cook two mini dogs at a time.
9. Deep fry until golden brown. Serve hot—with ketchup and mustard for dipping, of course!

Note: I had enough batter for six bun sized hot dogs cut into thirds, 18 mini hot dogs—and I put the batter on pretty thickly—the corn bread batter is my favorite part 🙂

Aren’t you glad you stopped by my kitchen today? Just what you needed to know…, how to coat a hot dog in a corn bread batter and deep fry it!  Deeeeeelicious!!!  Serve with a green salad and a glass of orange juice. My daughter sees no reason why these can’t be frozen and then reheated in the oven as needed. I don’t either!  Costco sells them twenty-four to a box just that way!

Now for all my Facebook-Polly, Julie and Julia friends. YES, to make matters WORSE, I then cut some Reese’s Peanut Butter cups in half , wrapped each half in that roll out crescent roll stuff, baked at 375° for 10 minutes, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and ate them.  And, umm, NO. That refrigerated crescent roll stuff is bad news. The rolls tasted and smelled like chemicals. That being said, of the eight I made guess how many are left? ZERO.

Now, aren’t you glad to know you can make killer corn dogs at home any time you want?!  I’ll try to post something a little more sane tomorrow…. Thanks for dropping by!