Baked Mini Corndogs Recipe

My husband loves corndogs, but I don't love the fried aspect of it. Or the nutritional value of frozen ones. However, I found this recipe on The FoodNetwork website and made some changes that work better for me. (Feel free to visit their site to see the true recipe.) My family liked them a lot and I think they'd be a great dish for a football party or appetizer night!

1 cup milk
1 package active dry yeast
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T packed light brown sugar
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour;
plus more for kneading (about 1 1/2 c to 2 c)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or paprika
9 hot dogs, cut in half
1 large egg, beaten
1 T black sesame seeds (optional)

Heat the milk in the microwave until warmed thoroughly. 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 spoon. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Stir thoroughly.



Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead. Add more flour as needed until the dough is smooth but slightly tacky. (I had to add almost 2 cups of flour so don't be alarmed if you have to keep adding flour.) Shape the dough into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a towel.


Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray. Cut each hot dog in half. (Side note: this is where the original recipe said to insert a wooden stick or skewer into each hot dog half, but I chose not to use skewers...because...I didn't have any.) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 18 equal pieces. I rolled my dough out into a rectangle and then used a pizza cutter to divide into equal slices.



Wrap each piece around a hot dog half, tucking and pressing the edges to seal. Place them on the baking sheet.



Brush the dough-wrapped hot dogs with the beaten egg; sprinkle with sesame seeds (I didn't have any so I just used the egg on mine.)



Bake until golden about 12-15 minutes. (I cooked mine for 13 minutes and it was about a minute too long...the bottoms get easily darkened so watch them.)



I served these with bowls of ketchup and bbq sauce. But, I think they'd be great with a fun sauce. Can anyone think of one? Feel free to leave a suggestion in the comment section.

Ciao,
J