Baked Corn Dog Bites
Snack time doesn’t always have to be a time for sweets — it can also be a time for sweet and salty! These corn dog bites are the best of both worlds with slightly sweetened corn muffins stuffed with a small piece of slaty hot dog, which, by the way, gives this snack a little protein boost too.
I make a big batch of these at once and keep the rest in my freezer for when I need them. I also pack them for school lunch sometimes, which the kids love. Nothing beats a little taste of the summer country fair in the middle of a long school day.
Ingredients
Neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola, for pan
1 cup cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs, ideally at room temperature
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons plain yogurt, regular or Greek-style
4 hot dogs, patted dry, each cut into 6 pieces
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a 24-well mini muffin tin and set aside. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the eggs, milk, and yogurt. Whisk to combine well; the batter should have a consistency similar to that of pancake batter.
Ladle just enough batter to cover the bottom of each well of the prepared tin. Drop a piece of hot dog into each well and then cover with more batter, filling the well three-quarters of the way (½ tablespoon should do the trick). Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully transferring the mini muffins to a wire rack or the counter to finish cooling. Serve warm or at room temperature, or allow to cool completely before storing in a sealed container or resealable plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
