Homemade Corn Dogs

Homemade Corn Dogs (LOL)

 

I have to LOL at this because I still can't believe I made corn dogs.  We bought a deep fryer a few months back so we could make battered salmon but it has been sitting in the cupboard for quite a while now after only two uses.  It was shunned because deep frying is way more work than it is worth, and it kept spitting at me which is NOT OKAY!


I decided to take it out of retirement because my dad had a craving for corn dogs and I didn't want him to buy the preservative heavy ones from the store.  Don't worry, I definitely see the paradox in wanting to make "healthy" corn dogs.  Anything deep fried is definitely not good for you, but it could be worse!  I got the recipe from Bakingdom:

http://www.bakingdom.com/2011/06/homemade-corn-dogs.html



These were a lot of fun to make, and I quite liked them, having never had a corn dog before!

Ingredients:

1 cup Corn Meal
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 cup Sugar
1 TB Baking Powder
1 egg
3/4 cup Milk
1 to 2 TB Honey, depending on how sweet you want it, I used 1 TB
10 Hot Dogs of your choosing
10 - 20 Toothpicks, popsicle sticks, skewers (whatever you have available)

Directions:

1.  Heat your oil to 375 degrees.  You can do this in a large pot if you don't have a deep fryer.  Please be careful with the hot oil!  Prepare a plate or a baking sheet with paper towel in order to lay the corn dogs once they are cooked.

2.  In a medium bowl combine the corn meal, flour, salt, pepper, sugar and baking powder.  In a separate bowl combine the egg, milk and honey.  Make a well in the dry mixture and add the liquid mixture.  Mix until the batter is smooth.

3.  I cut each of my hot dogs in half to make smaller corn dogs, but you may want to keep them whole, completely your choice!  Dry off your dogs and insert the skewer into the cut part of each dog.  I used large wooden skewers which were cut in half.

4.  Dip your dog into the batter, making sure it is completely covered.  I found the easiest way to do this was to submerge it and gently spin.  This is why you want the hot dog to be dry because otherwise some of the batter will have trouble sticking.

5.   Lower the corn dog into the oil and repeat with up to two more dogs.  I only did two at a time because I found it too difficult to do three.  The corn dogs never ended up being perfectly cylindrical so they would always want to float on one side, making it more brown than the other.  This meant that I had to try and hold it with tongs under the oil on the uncooked side so it would look even.  I found this too difficult with more than two corn dogs in the oil at a time.

6.  The corn dogs take about 3-5 minutes to cook in the oil, once they are golden brown on both sides you can take them out and lay them on the paper towel.

I had extra batter when I was done so I put globs of it in the oil and made these weird little balls which I call Alien Donuts because they looked super weird.  I then rolled them in cinnamon sugar.  They were way too good.

Alien Donuts, not coming to a store near you, ever.

Enjoy!

Monte Cristo

Monte Cristo (aka the greatest sandwich you've never tried)

 

If I am at home at lunch time my usual default is something made with eggs.  I will typically go for something simple like scrambled, but when there is some kind of deli meat in the house I will sometimes opt for a Monte Cristo.  A Monte Cristo is traditionally made with ham and cheese, but it tastes amazing with any combination of fillings.  The thing that makes this sandwich bizarre and amazing is that it is dipped in egg and then fried.

The one that I made on this particular day was made with deli roast beef and roasted garlic havarti (YUM!).  I don't know if they are traditionally made with mustard as well but I have been on a spice kick and therefore put a heaping glob of horseradish grainy mustard on there too!

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread (Duh)
3 or 4 slices of deli meat
Cheese
Mustard (optional)
1 egg
Oil for frying

Directions:

1.  Preheat your burner to medium to low heat. 

2.  Make sandwich, I'm sure everyone is familiar with this process!  I like to put the mustard on each side of the bread so that it will help it stay together when you flip it.  Another optional step which I find very helpful is to smoosh (technical term) the sandwich flat with your hand so that it doesn't come apart when flipped.

3.  Whisk one egg in a medium size bowl. 

4.  Submerge your sandwich in the egg, then flip the sandwich to coat the other side as well. 

5.   Place the sandwich in a greased pan and cook until it is brown on both sides and not wet inside.  I think the best way to do this is to cook it on medium to low so that the inside has time to cook without the outside getting too brown.

Let me know what meat/cheese/mustard combos you guys try!