Mini Pretzel Dogs

Happy Superbowl Sunday!

In honor of today I'm posting two recipes this week. WHAT? I know.
I wasn't sure of where I was going to be watching the game until Friday night so I didn't have a whole lot of time to plan what I was going to make. However, while I was searching the web for something amazing, (I like to wow on occasions like these. I.e. the buffalo bites or Bears cookies I made for the first game of the season.) my Grandmother reminded me that we had mini hotdogs in the freezer. I remembered that I had a recipe for pretzel dogs in my bookmarks and was so excited because I've been wanting to make pretzels ever since I got my Kitchen Aid mixer for my birthday. And really, wrapping mini hotdogs in croissants is so predictable. Delicious, but predictable.
The original recipe on Joy The Baker used normal sized hotdogs, cut in half but I already had the mini ones and I think that they work better for parties anyway.
After making the dough for the buffalo bites from scratch, I assumed that the pretzel dough would take forever but surprisingly you only have to let it rise for an hour and five minutes all together. Not too bad.
Using the mini hotdogs, I made 30 pretzel dogs, but really you could make a few more, maybe 35.
Not to mention they are delicious with mustard or just as is. But I mean, really, how could they not be? Its a pretzel hotdog.
Don't think it's too late to make these, you still can!

Mini Pretzel Dogs

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter, (melted and cooled)
14 cups of water
1 cup baking soda
8 hotdogs
1 large egg, (beaten with a splash of water)
salt & pepper for topping

In the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a dough hooks, combine warm water and sugar.
Sprinkle yeast on top.
Set aside for 5 minutes.
Mixture will begin to foam and froth. If it doesn't, dump out the mixture and make a new one.
Add the flour, salt, and butter.
Mix on low speed until well combined.
Increase speed to medium and knead dough until smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl in a ball, about 4 minutes.
Remove dough.
Scrape bowl of any residue.
Coat bowl with vegetable oil.
Return dough to bowl.
Sprinkle flour on top of the dough.
Cover and let sit for about one hour in a warm place to rise double its size.
Place oven racks to the middle and upper 1/3 of the oven.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly brush paper with oil.
Combine water and baking soda in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
While the water comes to a boil, turn the dough onto a clean, slightly oiled work surface.
Divide dough into 8 or 16 pieces, depending on how large you'd like your pretzel dogs. (8 for a whole hot dog and 16 for half hotdogs.)
Start to roll each piece of dough in the middle with both hands, moving your hands outward as you go to make a rope.
Roll the dough until the dough is about twice the size of the hotdog you will be using.
Wrap dough around hotdog, sealing the ends.
When the water has come to a boil, gently lower each hotdog in the saucepan.
Boil each pretzel dog for 30 seconds and remove with a flat, slotted spatula.
Place on prepared baking sheet.
Brush pretzel dogs with the beaten egg.
Top with sprinkles of salt and pepper.
Bake until deeply golden brown, about 12-20 minutes.
Transfer to a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving warm.
If you're not going to serve all of them, double wrap in plastic wrap and store in freezer.
When ready to serve, take them out of plastic and wrap in foil.
Bake in 350 degreed for 12 minutes.