GF Corn Dogs

GLUTEN-FREE CORN DOGS, adapted from On a Stick!

Okay, so some of you may have this ewwww feeling about corn dogs. If you ate them in your elementary school cafeteria, as I did, you may associate these with suspect hot dogs and plenty of chemicals. Good news? You can make these healthy.

We like the hot dogs from Hempler’s, a local product made without nitrites or gluten. I recognize every ingredient on the package as being food. Surely you too have good hot dogs in your area! (After all, originally hot dogs were another form of handmade sausages.) We used our whole-grain flour mix for the batter, so we could at least console ourselves with that. However, if you want to make these tonight and you don’t have a whole-grain flour mix made up, use 105 grams of any gluten-free flours that work for you.

And frankly, life is meant to be lived a little. I had not eaten a corn dog in over six years. I might have another on the 4th of July, with friends. After that, it will probably be another year before it happens again. Bon appetit!

4 wooden skewers
1 quart vegetable oil (we like safflower for frying)
105 grams whole-grain flour mix
120 grams cornmeal (make sure it’s gluten-free)
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper
¾ cup milk (we used soy but cow or rice milk would be fine here too)
1 egg
4 jumbo hot dogs

Preparing to fry. Preheat the oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. (We like to use our Dutch oven.) Cover a plate with several paper towels.

Making the batter. Mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper together. Whisk them together to aerate and incorporate them together. Pour in the milk and egg. Combine them with a fork until the batter is smooth. Transfer the batter to a tall glass or empty yogurt container.

Put the hot dogs on skewers and stand by.

Frying the corn dogs. Once the oil reaches 360°, dip each hot dog in the batter. Swirl it around until the hot dog is fully and evenly covered in batter. Drop the entire stick into the batter. Repeat with another hot dog. Fry until the coating is brown and firm, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the corn dogs to the waiting paper-towel-covered plate and repeat the frying process with the remaining corn dogs.

Serve immediately. I say mustard is enough. Danny likes mustard and ketchup both.

Feeds 4.