When life gets crazy, it’s nice to have something to look forward to, no matter how tiny it may be.
This September was just about the busiest month I’ve ever encountered (a close runner-up being the one when we moved to a new city and got married in the old city, in that order). I spent the month working tirelessly on the new and improved layout for West Coaster (check it out!!) and did very little cooking.
So through all my crazed late night yelling at the computer screen, I tried to keep in mind that one day soon the mailman was going to bring me an early peek at a book I’d been looking forward to with childlike anticipation: Tiny Food Party by Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park of Spoon Fork Bacon.
I mean, what’s more fun than tiny food?!
(Large amounts of tiny food.)
The book takes a playful and easy approach to party food, and makes the finished product damn cute to boot.
A world of cuisines are represented, with some crazy twists on classics.
Deviled eggs? No – they’re Mini Kimchi Deviled Eggs. With a candied bacon topping. COME ON. You’re killing me ladies.
For my first mini bite, I chose to make corn dogs. There were a few reasons for this:
1. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had corn dogs. That needed to be remedied.
2. I was about to go out of town and wanted something I could freeze and eat more of when I returned.
3. Corn dogs.
The batter is super flavorful and includes bacon, so I figure I don’t really need to sell you any further.
Mini Corn Dogs
From Tiny Food Party
I found that I had to add a bit more buttermilk than the recipe called for to thin it out. Also, I didn’t have white pepper, so I just used a bit less of black pepper.
Ingredients
- 1 quart vegetable oil, for frying
- 24 toothpicks or cocktail sticks
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup cooked crumbled bacon (about 9 strips)
- 24 cocktail wieners (such as Lit’l Smokies), or 6 hot dogs cut into 4 pieces each
Method
- In a medium pot, preheat oil to 365 degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together cornmeal, flour, sugar, cayenne pepper, chili powder, salt, white pepper, baking powder and baking soda. (Tip: if you prefer a smoother batter, pulse the cornmeal and flour together in a food processor before stirring in the remaining dry ingredients.) Stir in buttermilk, egg and honey and gently whisk until no lumps remain. Fold in bacon.
- Skewer 1 cocktail wiener on each toothpick. Working in small batches, dip and roll wieners in batter until fully coated and then quickly and carefully drop them, toothpick and all, into the hot oil. Fry for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Yields
24 mini corn dogs
https://kitchenetteblog.com/2012/10/mini-corn-dogs-from-tiny-food-party/
Congratulations on a beauty of a first book Jenny & Teri!
