Thursday, April 7, 2011

Homemade Corn Dogs

My 4 year old, excuse me 4 and a half year old, celebrated his half birthday in March and requested corn dogs for dinner. (Yes, we celebrate half birthdays. The person celebrating picks what he/she wants for dinner and dessert. Nothing fancy, but it's one more fun thing to do and allow me to cook fun stuff!) Being the person I am, I was not going to go to the freezer section and buy some. He's actually been asking me to learn how to make them for awhile. I wanted to find a recipe that didn't use a cornbread box mix in the ingredients, which a lot of them do. This one from A Cozy Kitchen does not. I did have a semi-difficult time getting the batter to stick, but after many swirls of the dog, I got it to work. I noted it below. These were not hard at all! Dinner was ready fast and I may actually do it again. Because, you know, I do like a good corn dog every now and then, this mommy loves hot dogs!




Homemade Corn Dogs
adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

Ingredients:
2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup corn meal (I used white buttermilk cornmeal.)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk
4-6 hot dogs (I used all beef EarthFare no preservative, nitrite, or bad stuff.)
4 tablespoons of cornstarch (for dredging)
4-6 wooden skewers (cut to a 6 inch length)

Directions:
Get some tongs and line a baking sheet or plate with paper towels. (For the corn dogs after frying.)

Pour your oil in a cast iron skillet, dutch oven, or deep fryer. Heat over medium-high heat until your thermometer reads 375 degrees F. I do not have a thermometer, but after knowing my oil got to hot, I'm going to invest in one. You don't want the outside to cook to fast, because the inside will still be gooey and not cooked.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, baking powder, salt, baking soda and cayenne. In a large bowl whisk the one egg and milk. Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients all at once, mixing until just combined. The mixture will look a lot like pancake mix. Don’t over-mix and let it rest for 10 minutes. Note: I transferred the mixture to a skinnier cup. It makes it much easier to dip in the batter.

While your batter is resting, lay your cornstarch on a baking sheet or big plate. Place each hot dog on a skewer and roll in the cornstarch, being sure to pat off any excess. Then quickly dip the hot dog in and out of the batter. Immediately place the corn dog in the hot oil.

*Note- If your experience goes like mine, the dip will not be quick. The batter wouldn't stick very well, I had to roll it and dip it and do just about everything to get it coated, but eventually it worked. I tried one without cornstarch and the batter wouldn't stick at all, and I mean at all.

Cook until the coating is golden brown, 4-5 minutes.Since I cooked mine in a skillet, I had to turn/rotate my corn dogs throughout cooking to cook them evenly. Remove with tongs and place on paper towels for draining. Serve with ketchup and mustard.

This recipe is linked to It's a Keeper Thursday, Prairie Story, Tidy Mom , Potluck Sunday, and Fat Camp Friday

14 comments:

The Better Baker said...

YUM! What a good Mommy cook you are! I love that you celebrate half years - wish I would have thought of that when my kids were growing up.

Siggy said...

Grrrreat job Mama!

Rita said...

I remember when my grandchildren always celebrated 1/2 year birthdays; they are teenagesrs now. You are so smart to have made these for him. Life goes so fast; enjoy!
Rita

Stacey Hays said...

I would if these would freeze well?

amber@This Mommy Cooks said...

I bet so! I thought about trying that, but we ate them all. I would fry them and then freeze them, and bake them to reheat them just like you do with store-bought ones.

Stephani said...

Looks yummy. I think I'll try that sometime. Thanks!

Erin @ Art + Food + Life said...

My hubby has been begging for homemade corn dogs. You just made him one happy man :)

Miranda | Mangoes and Chutney said...

Mmm, I have always wanted to make corn dogs, you did a great job! Maybe I will add this to my "must make" list. What a cute idea to celebrate 1/2 birthdays too. Thanks for linking this up to Fat Camp Fridays! See you next week!

Maude Lynn said...

I've got to try these!

Unknown said...

My grandchildren will certainly love these:) I am definitely making them sometime this week. Thanks for sharing it. Come join me for What's On the Menu Wednesday whenever you can. I would love to see you ther

Megan said...

I made mini corn dogs last night and I had a HECK of a time getting the batter to stick. The recipe I used was a bit different though. They were good tho, even if they weren't entirely encased in the cornbread:P It is fun to make these myself, because my kids LOVE corndogs, but I will never buy them. I feel better about them tho, knowing I picked out a good, high-quality hot dog to use.

Wende said...

These look so good and I can't wait to try them.
I shared this recipe on today's post of Must Try Tuesday....

http://therickettchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/must-try-tuesday-april-12-2011.html

Thanks for sharing!

Sara G said...

A while back I tried this similar if not exact recipe off Rachel Ray's show. I had the same issue with the batter at first, so I took some paper towel and dried out the hot dog as best I could. It stuck much better. I also added a small bit of honey which helped as well.

Crafty Mom said...

I just found your site from Jamie Oliver's food revolution. Lots of good stuff I wanna try! Home made corndogs are so much better. Try rolling the bare dogs in flour before dipping. I haven't made them in forever but it's worked before.

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