Puff Pastry Hot Dog on a Stick

I wanted to teach my daughter how to plan a party. I think a valuable skill to take into adulthood. From a simple birthday party to a dinner party with friends, it’s good to have a plan in place so you’re not too stressed on the day. It was 4th of July and I thought what I perfect time to teach her and we planned a small dinner for the family. We were going to make “corn dogs” (or as we call them here in Australia, “Dagwood Dogs” or “Pluto Pups”) but it was too much effort so I came up with the idea for these Puff Pastry Hot Dogs on a Stick.

Slowly but surely my very fussy daughter is starting to eat more foods, including hot dogs but only the brown skinned variety. Heaven forbid she’d eat a red skinned frankfurt. These American style hot dogs have the same flavour as the ones we’re used to so we were good to go. All you need is the frankfurts, one sheet of puff pastry and wooden skewers.

Thread the frankfurt onto the skewer and with your knife at an angle, starting at the bottom, insert the knife into the sausage and spin the frankfurt, cutting all the way through to the stick. Keep going until you get to the top.

Slice the puff pastry into thin strips, about 1 cm (1/2″) and wrap around the sausage inserting into the cut frankfurt. Depending on the length of the sausage, you may need more than 1 length of puff pastry. These hot dogs were extra long.

Place frankfurts on a tray lined with baking paper.

Brush with a little beaten egg and bake in a 180 deg C oven for approximately 20 minutes or until pastry is golden. (I could’ve left mine in the oven a bit longer.)

Dip in your favourite sauce and enjoy. These were a real hit with the kids. They tasted similar to the deep fried variety of hot dog on a stick but with less calories. They weren’t all that fiddly to do either.

Recipe

• Frankfurts
• Puff Pastry
• Wooden skewers
• 1 egg, beaten

1. Insert skewer into centre of each frankfurt.
2. With your knife at an angle, starting at the bottom, insert the knife into the sausage and spin the frankfurt, cutting all the way through to the stick. Keep going until you get to the top, turning as you go.
3. Cut puff pastry into thin 1 cm (1/2″) strips.
4. Wrap puff pastry into spiral cut space on the sausage.
5. Place hot dogs on a tray lined with baking paper.
6. Brush with beaten egg wash and bake in a 180 deg C oven for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

DIY Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I went on a craft retreat back a few weeks ago and I wanted to give a little something to the attendees. I could’ve done something a little ‘crafty’ but because I like to cook, I wanted to give a food gift so decided on these DIY Hot Chocolate on a Stick. Being winter here in Australia I thought it would be the perfect something to stir through hot milk on those cold winter nights.

These are really easy to make and perfect for making a large number of gifts for Christmas, Easter or any time of the year. I picked up these wooden spoons from the dollar store, 20 for $2.

I remembered I had some washi tape that resembled a tape measure so I taped that to the edge of the wooden spoon.

You can use an ice cube tray to set the hot chocolate mix or line a mini muffin tin, like I did, with plastic wrap. They’re easy to get out that way.

Melt the chocolate and then add cocoa and icing sugar (powdered sugar). 

Alternatively, you could supply a packet mix of hot chocolate and just make moulds of melted chocolate. If I make this again, that’s what I’ll do. Once you mix the dry ingredients to the chocolate, it goes quite stiff and is hard to push the marshmallows in.

Using a small ice cream scoop or a spoon, spoon mixture into mould.

Then just push the mini marshmallows and the wooden spoon into the mixture and allow to set. Once set, wrap in a little plastic wrap and gift wrap as required.

I found these cute little gift tags from the dollar store and I just wrote the instructions on the back of the tag. These are a really quick, easy gift and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the leftovers. To make the hot chocolate, you just need to stir the spoon through hot milk until it is melted. The marshmallows will also melt so you might like to add more.

Recipe

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DIY Hot Chocolate on a Stick

An easy gift to make for a crowd, this delicious mix of cocoa, icing sugar and melted chocolate forms an instant rich hot chocolate drink.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 20

Author Anne

Ingredients

• 400 gm chocolate milk or dark
• 80 gm cocoa
• 160 gm icing sugar
• mini marshmallows
• 20 wooden spoons

Instructions

1. Melt the chocolate in 30 second bursts in the microwave until melted.
2. Add cocoa and icing sugar and mix well.
3. Put spoonfuls into a mini muffin tin or ice cube trays lined with plastic wrap.
4. Push in mini marshmallows and wooden spoon or paddle pop stick.
5. Allow to set.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Strudel & Cream