Baked Corn Dogs

I've been wanting to make corn dogs for Brad for a long time - he loves them. But, I'm not really one for a) hot dogs (at least not "real" ones) and b) making fried food. I thought for sure that there would be a way to make baked corn dogs - and there is!



To be honest, these taste more like hot dogs wrapped in corn bread (because they don't get as crispy from frying) but in my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. A quick broil towards the end of the bake time could be a solution...hmm...will try that next time.

The recipe is fairly easy and can be adjusted according to your tastes, e.g., I used 98 percent fat free turkey hot dogs and fat free corn bread mix - yes, it still tasted awesome. I haven't had a real hot dog in a long time, but to me these turkey ones taste really real. Brad likes them too, so that's a good sign.

I also made these little foil hot dog boats/troughs because I thought the coating might fall off and spread over the pan - but now I'm not entirely sure if they are necessary. The coating is pretty thick.

Side dish...

• It was still fun to play with foil.
• Brad now wants a birthday cake shaped like a corn dog - instead of a zombie brain. I like this better.
• I realized that I have a lot of shoes, probably too many flip flops, but still always want more. Brad only has like four pairs.
• There is a ridiculous amount of candy in our cabinet.
• We have WAY too many glasses. I started counting and we're well over 100 glass glasses - and that's not counting glasses still in boxes. There is only two of us.
• I tweeted my second tweet to a celeb yesterday. Mandy Moore said she was watching RHNJ and I of course had to say something. She didn't tweet back though...:(
• We ate our corn dogs with fresh green beans and oven-roasted red potatoes.

OK, here's the corn dog recipe.

Ingredients: for 4 baked corn dogs

• 4, 98 percent fat free turkey hot dogs (like Oscar Mayer, or your fave hot dog)
• 1 1/2 cups fat free corn bread mix (like Krusteaz - I know, weird name)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 cup fat free cottage cheese
• a dash (or about 1/8 tsp) each of the following: salt, black pepper, smoky paprika, chili powder blend (I like Chili 9000 from Penzey's), cayenne pepper
• 4 long bamboo skewers
• 4 foil hot dog boats, if you want to try

*You can make the corn bread batter without all the spices, but we like spicy. It will turn a little orange from the paprika and chili powder.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
• In a shallow baking dish, combine corn bread mix, spices, cottage cheese and water (it will be very thick - add a little more water if necessary to make it spreadable)
• Insert skewers into hot dogs
• Coat hot dogs in batter (don't make it too thick, about a 1/2 inch of batter should work)
• Spray inside of foil hot dog boats with cooking spray and place on a sheet pan
• Put coated hot dogs in foil boats (or skip the foil and place hot dogs right on a nonstick sheet pan)
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until brown

*You will have some corn bread batter leftover. You could just throw it out, but I took mine and made two muffins. Just lower the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 18 minutes.