Mini Corn Dogs

Now that we're back from vacation, I'm trying to clean out my pantry and freezer so I can do a big grocery run and restock. I knew that I had some frozen hot dogs hanging around from the Omaha Steak gift my mom gave to us for Christmas. But, I had no hot dog buns. So, I went to my trusty source for recipes that use things like hot dogs in recipes - allrecipes.com - to see what recipes were out there. I couldn't pass up a recipe for homemade corn dogs when it has 4.5 stars and over 400 reviews.

I'll be honest, I didn't hold my breath on this recipe turning out well. But, I'm happy to say that the results were extremely delicious! The batter was not too sweet, not to salty, and as fluffy as you'd want a corn dog coating to be. The hot dogs that I used were BIG hot dogs. So, I cut them into thirds before coating with the batter. I aslo didn't have thicker wooden skewers to use, so I just used a couple toothpicks as my handles. The key to making these is making sure your hot dogs are close to room temp and perfectly dry. If they're moist then the batter will slip right off as you pull it out of your bowl. Also, make sure your oil is hot enough before cooking, otherwise your corndogs will just absorb oil and turn out greasy and heavy.

I ended up having a lot of leftover batter, so I used a cookie scoop and dropped in balls of the batter to make hush puppies (sort of). The plan is to freeze the leftover corn dogs and hush puppies and next time we want something quick to eat, heat them up in the oven just like you would the ones you buy at the grocery. I'm not sure this will work, but can't hurt to give it a try!

I would absolutely make these homemade mini corn dogs again when I'm looking for a fun indulgent treat, or maybe when I have younger houseguests. Oh, and Chris has requested I make these with the Oscar Mayer Jalapeno Cheddar Hot Dogs next time. I'm sure those will be AMAZING!

Here's the recipe, from Allrecipes.com, which makes 16 corn dogs:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying
• 2 (16 ounce) packages beef frankfurters
• 16 wooden skewers

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, sugar and baking powder. Stir in eggs and milk.
2. Preheat oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat. Insert wooden skewers into frankfurters. Roll frankfurters in batter until well coated.
3. Fry 2 or 3 corn dogs at a time until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels.