Fourth of July Hot Dog Recipe

by | Jun 8, 2015

It’s just about that time of year when we celebrate America’s Independence!

I saw this image on Pinterest and had to give it a quick look . . . basically what you see is what you have.

4th of July Firecracker Hot Dogs on a stick.

Recipes with pictures are much more exciting than words, but, of course, I’m going to tell you all about it. These images from Handmade in the Heartland show the finished product and the beginning process. It is an impressive way to make patriotic hot dogs for the 4th of July. Your guests are going to flip over these!

What You’ll Need To Buy:

  • Thick slices of Colby Cheese Slices or any cheese of your choice from your favorite deli where you can get it sliced — you want your slices to be 1/4 inches to 3/8 inches thick.
  • Star Cookie Cutter — large for the star on top, but also a small one for little stars to use for extra cheese to decorate your plate.
  • Wooden Skewers
  • 1 can refrigerated bread stick dough
  • 1 or 2 packages of hot dogs of your choice — depends upon your crowd

Bringing It All Together:

  1. Carefully push your wooden skewers through your hot dogs — you want it to go all the way through so you can have room to place your cheese star on top. These skewers are long, so you’ll have plenty of  stick for handling and giving your hot dog a look of a fire cracker.
  2. Take a piece of bread stick dough and carefully wrap it around your hot dog starting at the bottom and winding your way up the hot dog — making a nice spiral.
  3. As you have probably guessed, these don’t go on the grill, but are put in the oven following the baking instructions on the bread stick dough can. Before baking, put them on a nonstick cookie sheet — you may want to also use parchment paper to line the pan, but you don’t have to.
  4. While your wrapped up hot dogs are baking, cut the stars out of the cheese.
  5. After your hot dogs have cooled, put your large cheese stars on the skewer at the top of your hot dog.
  6. They’re impressive to put in a nice bucket with red, white and blue confetti paper with a nice chunk of styrofoam hidden under the colorful paper. Presentation is very important — this will truly wow! your guests.
  7. I’m sure you’ll find a use for your left-over cheese . . . those cutter cutter scraps could be melted into a cheese sauce you can use for dipping your hot dog into . . . or to make some nachos . . .

I hope this recipe brings some joy to your 4th of July celebration.

Hot Dog Heaven Recipe

by | May 30, 2015

HotDog1It’s definitely that time of year when the bar-b-ques are working overtime in the neighborhood — especially in your own backyard.  Hot Dogs seem to be on the grill as much as hamburgers, chicken and steak. But, as you can see from this picture it’s the cuts on the hot dogs of your choice that brings out the best tasting hot dog this side of heaven. And, you add some excellent sauce along with onion, cheese, or sauerkraut, banana peppers, even pickles or sweet pickle relish . . . getting hungry?

HotDog2

One neighbor swears by this sauce that has been handed down in his family. It’s important to allow people to talk . .. and talk they will. As it turned out, it’s not actually a secret family recipe, but a recipe his grandmother clipped out of the newspaper back in the 50’s. Now that I think about it, it may be a secret family recipe, because we don’t know the newspaper and don’t necessarily want to look through newspaper archives . . . and you never know what dear ol’ grandma added or deleted or substituted from the original recipe . . . or how it changed over time . . .

Hot Dog Heaven Sauce Recipe

This recipe makes approximately 1 and 1/2 cups of sauce

Sauce Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup of ketchup
  • 3/4 cup of brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce — that’s your choice since there are so very many on the market
  • 1/4 cup of honey
  • 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • dash of black pepper

Sauce Directions:

  1. Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and set over high heat.
  2. Stir occasionally until the mixture just starts to bubble.
  3. Remove from heat.
  4. Allow to cool completely. 
  5. It’s up to you if you want to serve your sauce at room temperature or chilled.

Let’s get down to the hot dogs!!

  1. You’re going to want to set your grill to medium heat — that’s if you have one of those fancy pants bbqs. For the rest of us . . .
  2. Use a sharp serrated knife to make diagonal cuts into the hot dog. You’re going to have to cut deep into the hot dog, more than halfway through. You’re going to make large “V’s” or “W’s” all the way down the hot dog. Check out the picture at the top of this blog post.
  3. Grilling is up to you. Some like to grill the hot dogs to black, some just with some black spots.
  4. You will notice that the hot dogs will be curling up into happy faces. That’s because of the cuts.

 Indulge me for a moment to talk about the buns you choose. Now, for this to be a Heavenly Hot Dog, not just any ol’ bargain bun will do. You want something soft, that truly hugs the hot dog and gives you a soft blend of flavor . . . not just the bun . . . you want it to compliment the hot dog, sauce and other stuff you may add inside the bun.

You’re going to butter your hot dog buns and place them on the grill just long enough to get them a bit toasted on the edges.

Now, you’re ready to put the hot dog in the bun, top with the delicious sauce and any other toppings you desire.

If you don’t plan to serve them right away, wrap them in aluminum foil  to keep them warm.

That’s it!! Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!!!