Mini Jalapeno Corn Dogs and Corn Dog Bites (Gluten-Free)

Ingredients:

½ cup Masa Harina (corn flour)
¾ cup Flour (I used King Arthur’s Gluten free Blend)
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
¾ teaspoon Kosher Salt
¼ cup fine granulated Sugar (I used fine grain baking sugar)
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1 roasted Jalapeno (about 3 inches long), skin and stem removed, and seeded and diced {roasting instructions below}
4-5 drops Tabasco sauce
½-3/4 cup Buttermilk
10 Hot Dogs, halved and/or quartered (halved for minis and quartered for bites)*
Vegetable oil enough to fill frying vessel 2 inches deep
A few bamboo skewers (for dipping and dropping into the oil)
Cornstarch for dusting
Lollipop sticks from the craft store for the mini corn dogs and toothpicks or appetizer forks for the corn dog bites
Suggest dipping sauces: Mustard and Homemade Ketchup

Instructions:

Yield: 20 mini corn dogs or 40 corn dog bites, or a combination of the two

Set oven to Broil. Place jalapeno on a baking sheet under the broiler and continue to turn while cooking until blackened completely. Remove and place in a zippered plastic bag. Set aside for 15 minutes. {Start the rest of the recipe}. After 15 minutes remove the chile, wipe off the blackened skin. Remove stem and seeds, and dice the chile. Wash hands thoroughly! Pour frying oil into a pot for a depth of 2 inches. Using a candy thermometer to measure the oil temperature, bring oil to 375 degrees. {While oil heats batter can be constructed}.

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients: corn flour (masa harina), flour, baking powder, salt, sugar. Mix until fully combine.

Add egg, jalapeno, Tabasco and ½ cup of buttermilk to the dry mixture. Stir by hand to combine. The batter should resemble pancake batter. If it is too thick, it is hard to coat the hotdogs- too thin and it won’t easily cover the hot dogs fully. If the batter is too thick with only ½ cup buttermilk, add more, small amounts at a time stirring fully to reach desired consistency. Note: I noticed as the batter sat while I dipped and cooked the corn dogs, it became thicker so I added more buttermilk through the process to ensure a good consistency of batter to work with. Dab any excess moisture from the hot dogs with a paper towel. Lightly dust with cornstarch which assists the batter to stick to the hot dog.

Place a hot dog on a bamboo skewer, only inserting the skewer enough to dip the hot dog- it will be removed when frying to if it is inserted too deeply removal is difficult. Place the hot dog in the batter and roll it to cover all sides. An alternative method is to pour the batter in a small drinking glass (larger than the hot dog) and dip the hot dog into the batter. Place a cooling rack over a baking sheet or paper towels. Place the hot dog into the heated oil, remove the skewer and allow to cook until golden brown about 1 ½-2 minutes. Remove with a heat-proof slotted spoon and place on the cooling rack. Repeat until all the hot dog pieces are cooked. Note: because the corn dogs cook so quickly I found it most easy to do them one at a time.

Cool just until able to handle the corn dogs safely. Insert lollipop sticks into the mini corn dogs or toothpicks/forks into corn dog bites. Serve and eat immediately. Mustard and ketchup are typical dipping sauces for corn dogs.

Notes
*I suggest using the best quality hot dogs possible. There are many brands using naturally or organically raised animals without steroids, or artifical colors/ingredients which is my personal choice.

From boulderlocavore.com