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It’s funny as I think when we’re kids, Christmas or Hanukkah was the ‘best’ holiday while Halloween was second best. However as we get older for a good portion of us Halloween either became our favorite holiday or it becomes loves equally as the Christmas and Hanukkah. I have one girlfriend that literally plans all year long for how she is going to decorate for this holiday. She goes ALL OUT and it’s truly impressive! For me Halloween became one of my, if not my top, favorite holidays while I was a senior in college. I can remember us living in a huge house and having a ginormous party. We even had life-size vampire coffin in our front yard. We decorated I swear every square inch of that house and property.
Then when I bought my first house I went truly nuts on buying and handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters. I was hooked! So imagine my happiness when Mr. Fantabulous and I bought our house. Since I was so used to getting about a 100 kids for Halloween I figured since we lived in a semi bigger area that I buy even more than normal. Well Halloween came and went and we didn’t get one kid stop by. I was so upset that my darling husband grabbed my tiara (it’s a joke gift), went outside and rang the doorbell just so I could hear someone say “Trick or treat!” and pass out candy. Well the following year is when we introduced our first party – BooFest. It was an adult costume party. Now not knowing how it would go I did what my mother did – cooked enough food for 475 people who hadn’t eaten in a month and were staying for 3 weeks. Yeah our party had maybe 35 people that went from 7-4am. LOL That’s when I fell truly in love with Halloween. For the next 4-5 years I’d start planning our BooFest around August and by mid-September the invites were issued out and the menu was planned. We went all out. Unfortunately we then started the complete renovation on our house and because of that we haven’t been able to host it. I’m bummed but I swear our past guests are even more bummed.
So when the amazing folks from Ball Park® Franks and State Fair® Mini Corn Dogs were looking for Spooktacular Halloween food recipes I jumped at the opportunity to partner with them. What an amazing and delicious partnership for me! Hot dogs and Corn Dogs are some of the best party foods out there. They are easy to make, hold, eat and create with. They are great as-is but when you’re given a challenge to revamp them, I’m in!
When you are hosting a party (or if it’s a typical Saturday morning shopping) you need to go to your local Sam’s Club. The bigger sized packages are what you need to handle the party appetites plus the prices are easy on the budget. Now I shop at actually 2 different Sam’s Club – either the one by my work or the one closest to my home. Regardless of the shop I can find everything I need because one I have those stores memorized but even more importantly, it’s so easily marked. Now these items can be found in the Meat freezer section.
One thing to keep in mind when it comes to serving up Halloween dishes is the name of the dish definitely plays a big role in it. Granted the taste trumps all but I think the name is a close second. See you can take a recipe that you may make for other times of the year and call it something else. However when you give it an event-specific name the dish takes on more ‘oh yeah I see that’s no longer a bacon wrapped hot dog’ but rather a “OMG you Mummyfied hot dogs and Baconsteined them! No wait!!!! You then glazed it with BBQ sauce! You made it Dirty!” Or “OMG! You transformed chips and corn dogs into Baby Batty Vampire Dogs!” Now you see it, don’t you?
As you can see below, to make these are pretty simple. I’d say the part that takes the longest is cutting the dog and then filling it with cheese. Don’t worry if they don’t look perfect or even if you cut too deep. The bacon “mummyfies” it together. I’ve been making these for a few years for our parties so I don’t have to use a skewer to spiral cut them or stuff them with cheese but if you want to feel more comfortable just take a long skewer and slide it length-ways down the hot dog. So as you cut on the spiral you won’t go all the way through the hot dog.
The other thing is the cheese. I find string cheese works the best. I tend to take a single log of string cheese and rip it 3-4 strips. But if you want more, have at it. The bacon holds it all in.
For a party I will make at least one whole 3lb bag of hot dogs however you can make more as they are awesome as leftovers (if you’re lucky to have them!). I just reheat mine in the oven for a few minutes at 350F and it’s game on for me! Typically for a party I will cut them in pieces and insert a toothpick while leaving half of them whole for those with bigger appetites. Additionally I forgo the bun – that’s reserved for cookouts and bbqs. Speaking of which, you can totally grill these too! Since the hot dogs are cooked all you need to worry about is ensuring the bacon is cooked all the way through. However if you grill, hold off on basting them with the bbq sauce until the bacon is almost fully cooked.
For me I’d have to say probably my favorites parts of these are the ends as for me I tend to leave the ends just slightly exposed (i.e., not covered with bacon) so they can get blackened however if that’s not your schtick just make sure the entire hot dog is wrapped in bacon.
Also with regards to the bacon I make this with normal cut bacon. Thick cut tends to take a lot longer, obviously, plus you have to make sure the entire hot dog is encapsulated in the bacon otherwise the ends will burn. And nobody wants a burnt weenie!
Next let’s move on to these seriously adorable and addictive mini corn dogs. I love corn dogs! Corn Dogs for me was something I’d get once a year growing up at our local amusement park. Since I don’t ride or play the games I eat. Always, always had to get a corn dog with mustard. However with these State Fair® Mini Corn Dogs I can have them all year round and skip paying the outrageous amusement park entrance prices!
To Halloweenize them I am probably giving you the hardest recipe ever in the world. Should I apologize now? I mean you’re going to slave over this, work up a sweat and dare I suggest…break a nail. *gasp!* lol
Seriously this is literally 3 ingredients and once the corn dogs are baked it takes all of maybe 10 seconds to make one. What I love about these Baby Batty Vampire Dogs is you could easily transform them into Teenager Batty Vampire Dogs but taking some mayo or some other white condiment and draw on teeny fangs. Grown Up Batty Vampire Dogs can have bigger fangs, maybe a beard/mustache. See where I’m going with these? Heck, you could make an entire Batty Vampire Dogs family tree!
I would say the only requirement of these batty dogs is you must use tortilla chips that are triangle shaped. If you can find black chips that would even be more awesome!
So while you’re planning your Halloween party, no matter what the ages are of your guests you definitely need to serve these up on your food table! Go with some Halloween plates and make it truly Spooktacular!
#ad Dirty Mummy Baconstein Dogs
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Ingredients
Dirty Mummy Baconstein Dogs
- 4 Ball Park® Franks
- 3 mozzarella string cheese, torn into 3–4 strips each
- 7–9 strips of bacon, regular cut
- 1/4–1/2 cup bbq sauce
- 8–12 small wooden toothpicks
Baby Batty Vampire Dogs
- State Fair® Mini Corn Dogs
- Blue Corn Tortilla Chips (triangle shaped)
- Ketchup
Instructions
Dirty Mummy Baconstein Dogs
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set an oven safe cooling rack in the pan.
- Place the wooden toothpicks in enough water to cover them. Allow to soak for 10-15 minutes.
- With a knife, begin making a single spiral cut (about 1 inch apart) about 1/4” deep all the way down the hot down. Turn the hot dog away from you, as you go. If it helps, place a long skewer lengthways down the center of the hotdog. Place the knife at one end of the hotdog and on an angle cut down and around the hotdog, turning it as you cut down along the skewer. This takes a little bit of practice but you got this!
- Next take thin strips of the string cheese and press them into the spiral cuts starting from the top to the bottom.
- Lastly, grab one piece of bacon and wrap it up and over one end of the hotdog winding it down the hotdog. Grab a second piece and slightly overlap the first piece and continue wrapping down to the bottom of the hot dog cutting off any excess.
- Carefully remove the skewer down the middle of the dog (provided you used one).
- Next take 2-3 toothpicks and place one at each end of the hotdog securing the bacon down. If needed place the third one where the 2 pieces of bacon join.
- Repeat these steps for the remaining dogs.
- Place all of the hotdogs on the cooling rack lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, flipping over and baking for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from the pan from oven and place on broil.
- Baste the tops of the dogs with bbq sauce and broil for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce is caramelized and bubbly.
- Remove from the oven, flip the dogs over, baste with more bbq sauce and broil for 1-2 minutes.
- When done, remove from the oven, carefully remove the toothpicks (watch they will be hot) and enjoy your Dirty Mummy Baconstein Dogs!
Baby Batty Vampire Dogs
- Bake the corn dogs per the package instructions.
- When the corn dogs are done, remove them from the oven and while they are still warm, take one point of the tortilla chip and insert it into the side of the corn dog. Repeat with another chip on the other side to form the ‘wings’.
- Using a squirt bottle (or toothpick) dab on 2 eyes. If you want to make ‘teenager’ vampire dogs, add on small teeth with mayo.
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