I don’t know what has come over me lately, but corn dogs have been on my mind for some time now. I think it has been all the chatter on my social networks where people have talking about their state fair, and as we all know it, that is the place where you can get anything made on a stick.
But there is more to it than that. Two of my kids simply love corn dogs, and it is one thing that I do not normally purchase at the store. I decided that it would be a winner if I could satisfy my kids appetites, while at the same time, twisting up a classic corn dog by wrapping a portion of it in bacon. Yes, bacon.
If you have ever been intimated at making corn dogs, have no fear. In all seriousness, these corn dogs, bacon or no bacon, are so easy to make, that you can have fresh cooked corn dogs on your plate within minutes.
Lets get started.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
- 4 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cups fine yellow cornmeal
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 3/4 cups of buttermilk
- 1 tbsp of your favorite hot sauce
- 8 slices of bacon
- 8 Johnsonville wieners, patted dry (or use your favorite hot dog)
- 8 skewers
- Canola oil for deep frying, deep enough to submerge the corn dog, approximately 5 cups
Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Lay the slices of bacon on a baking sheet, lined with foil, and place in the preheated oven, cooking for 15 minutes. The goal is to not crisp the bacon, but bring it pretty darn close to being cooked. Once cooked, remove, and pat dry with paper towel.
While the bacon is cooking, add everything but the hot dogs to a mixing bowl, and do just that, mix into a nice batter.
When you are ready to go, make sure you pat dry the wieners. Straighten each hot dog out with your hand, and insert the skewer through the wiener, moving it all the way up, leaving enough to hold while you eat it. Repeat.
Preheat your oil on the stove. The goal is to reach a 375 degree pot of oil. Do a test by dropping a small pinch of bread into the oil. If it comes to a nice sizzle you should be good to go.
To each wiener, wrap the bacon around it, securing the best way you can. If you need to move a toothpick through it, go ahead. Just remove the toothpick when the dog is cooked.
Add the bacon wrapped wiener to the bowl of batter, spinning it around until the entire wiener is coated. Keep spinning it, then carefully drop it into the oil. Repeat, dropping about 2-3 dogs into each batch of oil.
These will cook up rather fast, and you are only looking at about a 4-6 minute cook time. Cook until a golden brown, then remove, and place on a paper lined strainer. Repeat until all of the wieners are cooked.
Plate with your favorite sauce. Dip and bite. Repeat.
Biting into this corn dog definitely yields a great surprise for anyone you serve it to. My son’s look on his face when he hit the bacon was worth a million dollars. His eyes lit up, and a huge smile came on his face. That alone made these worth making again, and again, and again.
Hope you enjoy.