Includes recipe for Corn Dog and Wacky Cake Master Mixes, Uses and Variations
December 6, 2009
In an effort to be as frugal as possible we, as adults, decided to go non-cash for birthdays and Christmas this year. It’s a bit of a challenge, but we are celebrating with gifts of love instead of cash. We are also on the Dave Ramsey “Beans and Rice, Rice and Beans meal plan.” Meaning we are purchasing as little as possible in the grocery department and living off our food storage. Some times it’s a bit of a challenge.
Generally for Sean’s birthday we go to a restaurant of his choice, where he picks anything he wants from the menu and then to a movie of his choice. Then home to store purchased gifts.
This year to celebrate Sean’s 35th birthday, yesterday, he slept as late as he wanted instead of getting up to do morning chores with us. He got up around lunch time asking if we had any corn dogs or master mix made up. Nope, but that was no problem. It took only minutes to make up the mix—recipe at end of the post, and then the dogs.
Gary took over making his son’s requested lunch. He fixed the Corn Dogs, Corn Treats and Butterfly potatoes for a wonderful hot fried meal. We know all that fried foods aren’t good for us, but this was to be a special treat day.
A note here. Butterfly Potatoes are like those you see at the fair. The spiral cut super thin potatoes. I am blessed enough that I have a homemade version of the slicer they use to make the cutter for them. We use it often for potatoes (both white and sweet), other root vegetables and onions to make homemade chips and haystack fried onions. I keep telling dh, Gary, he needs to draw up a pattern for one for friends, but so far he’s not done it. If he ever should we will post it. It’s similar to an apple corer/slicer, but cuts much thinner.
You could use a mandolin slicer set on super thin to do similar flat not spiral chips and onions haystacks, we like the flair of the spiral though.
Once the lunch was finished we all climbed the stairs to Sean’s area to work on his big birthday present. We started this last weekend and worked on it on and off during the week between chores and mystery shops.
For a very long time he’s been wanting to rearrange his room and cull as much as possible from it. He also wanted to remove the old carpeting at his outside door to remove the some of the allergy causing/aggravating dust from his area of the house. It sounds like a simple task until you realize this area is a VERY large room that contains 100’s of books, cds and dvds. Our gift to him was to help him get the room exactly the way he wanted it.
At one point last weekend Gary asked if we could go back to giving him a toy train like we did when he was little. We were very tired at that point. Man that young man has a LOT of books! Four large bookcases worth. Each book is being thoroughly vacuumed for dust as we go. They, along with the cd and dvds will be put back in a precise order per ds’ instructions.
Dh and I had a lot of stuff stored in his walk-in closet as well that we are culling and preparing to sell so it’s been very slow going. We are finally to the put back stage and it is now shaping up quickly. Everything is being organized completely, as ds has requested.
Dinner last night was a homemade version of three way chili using the Master Mix for Moo Gurgle and the Master Mix for Spaghetti Meatballs served on top of either spaghetti noodles or macaroni. We used macaroni last night because we are out of spaghetti and I didn't want to take time to make some at that point. I was TIRED. He wanted a Wacky Cake for dessert. Wacky Cake is an eggless chocolate cake that is frosted when hot.
For his birthday movie he actually choose two. One we had not seen, one we had from his vast dvd collection. Sweeny Todd and Monsters vs Aliens—weird combo I know, but we do have a variety of tastes.
I must confess I fell asleep during the Monsters vs Aliens, I’d seen it before, so no matter. The guys woke me up to send me to bed, something about my snoring drowning out the movie. LOL! So three of the cats and I went to bed.
The guys then played X-box until 4:30 am.
Sean said it was a very satisfying birthday, when he crawled out of bed late this afternoon.
Jan who is hoping for a similar day of “gifting” on her birthday January 6th in OK
Now for the recipes:
CORN DOG MASTER MIX
4 C instant powdered milk
¾ C sugar
2 Tbl salt
4 Tbl baking powder
8 C cornmeal
4 C flour
Mix all ingredients together well, place in an airtight container, label and date. Store in a cool dark place.
USES:
Corn Dogs—makes 12-14 Corn dogs
1 C water
2 medium eggs, slightly beaten
¼ C. oil
2 to 2 ¼ cups master mix
1 to 1 ½ pounds frankfurters
Flour for dusting, roughly ½ c
Popscycle sticks
Oil for deep frying.
Preheat your oil to 375. I prefer using a deep fat fryer for this, but they can be done in a deep pan, just be VERY careful you do not boil the oil over on to the stove. Use a DEEP pan. No fires allowed!
Mix the water and eggs together well then slowly stir in the dry mix, blend well. The mixture should be slightly thick, add more water or mix to adjust to the desired thickness as needed.
Dry the franks well. Dust with flour. These are two important steps if you do not dry the franks and then dust them the batter will not stick to them.
Skewer the franks with the popscycle sticks in one end. Set aside, prepare all the franks at once.
Fill a glass that is taller than the franks are long with the batter. Dip the franks in the glass one at a time until well coated. Do this slowly so as to not overflow your batter out of the glass. Once the frank is well coated slowly pull it out of the glass and let the excess drip off back into the glass. Add more batter as needed to the glass.
Quickly, but in a safe manner, place the frank into the smoking hot oil. Cook until golden brown. If your pan is big enough you can cook a few at a time, but you do not want to over crowd them because that will cool your oil too much. Hot oil is essential in a well cooked corn dog.
Remove from oil when golden brown and place on paper towels to drain. Repeat until either the desired number of corn dogs are made OR until you run out of batter. We cook until the batter is all used up then drain and cool the excess corn dogs well. Then they are put in individual freezer bags, labeled and dated for quick meals on the go.
TO REHEAT:
From a frozen state heat in a preheated oven at 375 for 18-20 minutes, or until heated through.
VARIATIONS:--most can be frozen and re-heated as above.
Corn Pups—can be done in a fondue pot if desired
Cut the franks in small sections and simply roll in a bowl of the mix instead of using the dip method (or you can use tooth picks and dip them).
Cocktail Pups—can be done in a fondue pot if desired
Use cocktail wieners instead of frank sections
Sausage dogs—Can be done in a fondue pot if desired
Use segments of any sausage you like, Polish, Kielbsa, Links, etc.
Meatball dogs—can be done in a fondue pot if desired.
Use pre-cooked meatballs—see Meatball Master Mix
Cheddar bites—Use 1 inch squares of your favorite cheese
Veggie Fritters—can be done in a fondue pot as well
Cut up veggies into bite sized pieces, then dip in batter that has been mixed up as for corn dogs. Deep fry until golden brown. Serve with favorite dressing such as Buttermilk Ranch or Chiptole Ranch dressing.
Jalapeno/pepper Poppers
Take any fresh pepper of the hotness desired Jalapeno, Pablano, Bell, Chiptole etc. Slice open and scrape out seeds. I recommend wearing gloves while doing this. Insert a small cube of your favorite cheese (Cheddar, Mozzarella, Cream etc) Fold pepper back over cheese, dip in the batter and fry as you would the corndogs.
Fish/Seafood Nuggets
Dip bite size nuggets into the batter then deep fry until golden brown and fish flakes.
OTHER USES FOR THE MIX:
Johnny or Hoe Cakes
Make the mix as above, only add more water, thin to pancake batter consistency and cook like pancakes on a hot griddle.
Corn treats—great way to use up excess batter.
Deep fry drops of the batter as mixed for corndogs until golden brown, salt or season as desired when you first take them out of the oil.—You could do it like a funnel cake too, but not too thick.
Cornbreads:
Use slightly more water in the mix and bake in a greased pan at 350 for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown—pan size depends on thickness desired.
VARIATIONS on cornbread:
Corny Cornbread
Add a can of Cream Style corn when adding the egg and water.
Jalapeno Cornbread
Add 1-2 diced jalapeno (or more if desired)
¼-1/2 cup grated mild cheddar cheese to mix.
Hamburger Casserole Cornbread
Make the Jalapeno Cornbread as above but add ½ pound cooked ground beef for an 8 X 8 pan or a 1 pound to a 9 X 13 pan and 1 can of cream style corn. Cook at 350 until golden brown.—This is excellent served with a pot of brown beans.
WACKY CAKE MASTER MIX
9 C flour
1 T salt
6 C sugar
¾ C Cocoa
Mix together well. I use a whisk for this task. Place in an airtight container. Label and date. Store in a cool dry place.
To use:
Pre-heat oven to 350.
Place 2 ½ cups of the mix directly into the 9 x 13 baking pan you will bake this in.
Add:
6 T. cooking oil
1 T. Vinegar (either white or apple cider will work—I’ve even used rice vinegar in a pinch)
1 tsp vanilla
1 C water
Stir ingredients together well.
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until done. It is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
While the cake is baking mix together:
2 C powdered sugar
2 T. cocoa
Then mix in until smooth
½ c. butter
2-3 tsp cream
When the cake comes out of the oven pierce it several times with a fork. Then frost immediately with the topping.
VARIATIONS:
Add to the dry mix before adding liquids baking chips such as mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, chopped fine candy bars—you know those that you purchased on sale after a holiday, and/or nuts.
A bit of mint extract can be added for a minty version as well.
Serve it a la mode with your favorite ice cream if desired
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