With baseball and BBQs in full swing I thought it would be the perfect time to bake up some homemade corn dogs!

My little girl is a bit of a hot dog snob, so... I had to really hit it out of the park this time. With only 4 hot dogs left in the house, I didn't have room for failure today.

It's fun (and a bit challenging sometimes) to give her healthier alternatives to foods that all kids grow up with!

My mom and I have tried our hand a few times at making baked corn dogs. But we've always used more of a batter rather than a dough.

Looking back, I now know that was our first mistake.

While the corn dogs always tasted good, they were difficult to make/handle/deal with, had way too much breading around the hot dogs, and never looked appealing.

I basically used this recipe that I found as a base and made some minor adjustments for whole wheat and more spices.

If I hadn't been making these for my daughter, I would have added more cayenne and/or chili powder. I like a little spice to my corn dog batter, personally.

This time around I went with more of a dough. A whole wheat dough at that! It's thicker than a batter and was super easy to work with. Just wrap those dogs up in their blankets and tuck them in!

Of course, the usual hot dog is deep fried, so these don't quite have the same taste or texture as your standard run of the mill corn dog.

No, these are actually better in my opinion.

Baked Whole Wheat Corn Dogs
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Servings: 10 • Size: 1 Corn Dog • Calories: 186.7 • Fat: 6.5 g • Carb: 28.8 g • Fiber: 3 g • Protein: 4.8 g • Sugar: 7.5 g • Sodium: 298.5 mg

Ingredients:
Dough:
1/2 C. Fat Free Milk, Hot
1/2 C. Hot Water
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1 C. Corn Meal
1 1/2 C. Whole Wheat White Flour
1 Tsp. Salt
1/4 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp. Paprika
1/8 Tsp. Cayenne
1/8 Tsp. Chili Powder
2 1/4 Tsp. Active Dry Yeast

Dogs:
10 Turkey Hot Dogs
2 Egg Whites, Lightly Beaten
1 Tbsp. Poppy Seeds

Directions:
Combine the hot milk and hot water with the yeast in a small bowl and set aside for about 5 minutes until the yeast as activated.

Once ready, mix in the oil, brown sugar, and corn meal. Then add in the flour, baking soda, and spices. Stir until the dough becomes sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding more flour if you need to. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oil bowl. Cover to allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Alternatively you could toss all of the dough ingredients into a bread machine (in the order listed) and run the dough cycle.

While you're waiting for the dough to rise, prepare your hot dogs!

I skewered mine onto some thick wooden kabob sticks.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Note: I cooked mine at 450 degrees F. as the original recipe called for and I found that it was too hot. I ended up turning the oven down to 400 degrees F. after the first five minutes of baking, so I've made adjustments for how I would do it next time.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out thin pretty thing.

I left mine about 1/4" thick.

Note: I only made a half batch of dough on this particular day, so you will have a great deal more if you use the full recipe as listed.

Cut the dough length wise into 10 equal (long and skinny) segments.

I trimmed the edges off for aesthetics annnnd because... I made a half batch of dough and only had 4 hot dogs on hand.

Roll the hot dogs up. One dog per segment of dough. You will want to roll at somewhat of an angle to spiral the dough downward from one end to the other.