Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs

May 29, 2011

Why just have hot dogs when you can have cheese-stuffed bacon wrapped hot dogs? A nice change from the norm. There are several recipes online with different versions and different ways of cooking this meal—baking, broiling, deep frying (without the cheese), frying on a griddle, or grilling. Choose whatever works for you.

Ingredients

  • 8 hot dogs (whatever brand you prefer)Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs
  • ½ cup crumbled cheddar
  • 8 slices bacon
  • 8 hot dog buns
  • Condiments

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. Grease a 13 x 9-inch glass pan or a jelly roll pan.
  3. Slice the hot dogs, leaving the last ¼" on both ends and the bottom unsliced.
  4. Stuff the crumbled cheddar into the slit you’ve made in the hot dog.
  5. Wrap with a slice of bacon, overlapping slightly.
  6. Bake 20 minutes.
  7. Switch oven to broil and crisp bacon as desired, about 3 or 4 minutes.
  8. Allow to cool 5 minutes.
  9. Serve in buns, with ketchup, mustard, onions, and other desired condiments.

Variations

  • Instead of crumbled cheddar, slices of cheese, folded into strips can be substituted.
  • The picture shows oversized ¼-lb hot dogs which required 1½ strips of bacon and larger buns. They were actually too large for everyone, but we were using the ingredients we had (hot dogs we had found on sale and frozen).

Time Required: 40 minutes

Servings: 8 <

Filed under Main Dish Tagged with ,

Graduation Caps

May 29, 2011

Just found this very cute recipe online, from Graduation Caps published in Taste of Home’s Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook Annual 2005, p213. Check out the website for a photo. It looks so much like something my friend Lisa would make for her girls.

Ingredients

  • 24 miniature peanut butter cups
  • 1 tube (6 ounces) decorating frosting in color of your choice
  • 24 After Eight thin mints
  • 24 milk chocolate M&M’s in color of your choice or 24 semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Remove paper liners from peanut butter cups.
  2. Place upside down on waxed paper.
  3. Place a small amount of frosting on each peanut butter cup, and center a mint on each.
  4. Using frosting, make a loop for each cap’s tassel.
  5. Place an M&M on top of each loop.

Time Required: 30 minutes

Servings: 2 dozen

<

Filed under Candy Tagged with ,

S’mores Snackin’ Cups

December 22, 2010

Want s’mores, but don’t have a campfire handy? This oven-warmed treat is an easy alternative (and a good bit less messy). S’mores Snackin’ Cups, another Girl Scourt recipe, are the twenty-second of my 25 Cookies of Christmas.

Ingredients

  • 1 (14-ounce) package graham crackers
  • 6 Herskey’s chocolate bars
  • ½ (10.5-ounce) bag mini-marshmallows

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F.
  2. Line two muffin pans with muffin cups, or spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
  3. Break the graham crackers into pieces and place a layer in the bottom of each muffin cup.
  4. Break up the chocolate bars and put a layer on top of the crackers.
  5. Add another layer of crackers and chocolate.
  6. Evenly distribute the marshmallows over each muffin cup.
  7. Bake in preheated oven until the chocolate melts and marshmallows brown slightly.

Variations

  • Make one giant pan of S’mores by layering treats in a cast iron skillet or pie plate and then baking according to the instructions.
  • Substitute Teddy Grahams and chocolate chips for fun alternative.
  • For the original campfire version, use a cast iron skillet. Place the skillet in a corner of the campfire, rotating the pan ¼ turn every 3 minutes, until the chocolate is melted and the marshmallows are golden brown, about 12 minutes.

Time Required: 20 minutes

Servings: about 2 dozen

Filed under Candy, Cookies Tagged with , ,

Paula Deen’s Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

December 21, 2010

These aren’t exactly the kind of cookie that you typically associate with Paula Deen—they’re sugar-free, and there’s not a stick of butter in sight! I have no idea why the recipe works (where is Alton Brown to explain it?), but it does. The original recipe is available from The Food Network. Magical Peanut Butter Cookies are the twenty-first of my 25 Cookies of Christmas.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
  • 1⅓ cups Splenda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
  3. Mix peanut butter, 1 cup Splenda, egg, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl, combining completely.
  4. Roll the dough in your hands, into about 1″ balls.
  5. Place on cookie sheet.
  6. Dip fork in remaining Splenda, and press on balls to create criss-cross design.
  7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle cookies with some of remaining Splenda while still warm.
  8. Cool several minutes on pan before removing (to avoid breaking).

Variations

  • For a crunchier cookie, stir ½ cup chopped peanuts into the batter.

Filed under Cookies Tagged with , ,

Butter Pecan Cookies

December 17, 2010

Butter pecan is another family favorite, and this cookie creates the perfect taste in a snap. Butter Pecan Cookies are the seventeenth of my 25 Cookies of Christmas.

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg butter pecan cake mix (any brand)
  • 1 stick butter or margarine, melted
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
  2. Spray 13″ x 9″ pan with nonstick spray.
  3. Cream eggs and butter together.
  4. Add cake mix and pecans. Batter will be stiff.
  5. Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet, and press lightly with the back of spoon to flatten.
  6. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Time Required: 45 minutes

Servings: 3 to 4 dozen

Filed under Cookies Tagged with ,

Newer posts →