Recipes for firecracker hot dogs (also called rocket dogs) started popping up on the internet circa 2011. (One of the earliest appearances seems to be from the now defunct Family Fun Magazine as a recipe for "rocket dogs" around 2011.) These social media darlings—hot dogs wrapped in pastry and baked until golden to look like little fireworks—are a fun concept for a Fourth of July barbecue or other summertime party. But I’ll let you in on a secret: While they look adorable, they don’t usually taste great. I set out to change that—and as the recipe below shows, I succeeded.
Tips for Memorable Firecracker Hot Dogs
Skip the canned dough and make a quick biscuit dough instead. Most of the recipes out there for firecracker hot dogs rely on store-bought doughs for ease. Canned refrigerated biscuit or croissant dough are most commonly called for, and a handful of recipes call for premade pie crust or breadstick dough. I don’t know if you’ve tasted a canned biscuit recently, but its appeal pretty much begins and ends with popping open the can. While it’s an understandable shortcut for a quick and easy dish like this, I knew a from-scratch biscuit dough would be a step up in buttery flavor and flakiness, and would still be easy to make, requiring just one bowl and a handful of pantry ingredients.
I found a recipe in the Serious Eats archives for honey biscuits that uses a simple one-bowl method, and I liked the idea of a sweet-salty biscuit dough to pair with the hot dogs. With some scaling and tweaking, this easy-to-make dough was perfect for wrapping the dogs (no wrestling of canned dough required), and a few quick folds and turns while shaping gave the pastry beautiful striated, ultra-flaky layers when baked.
Refrigerate the dough briefly for easier shaping. Briefly chilling the dough while making the glaze and skewering the hot dogs ensures the pastry keeps its shape and puffs into defined layers in the oven. The dough should be pliable and easy to stretch as you shape it. If the dough is too stiff straight from the fridge to wrap around the hot dogs easily, let it warm up a few minutes on the counter before trying again. Conversely, if the dough becomes too warm and sticky to handle as you assemble, chill it back down in the fridge for a few minutes before continuing shaping.
Add some fire with hot honey in the dough and a sweet-spicy glaze on the franks. To my mind, anything named “firecracker” should have a little kick to it. Since I already had honey in the mix for the biscuit dough, I wondered if switching to hot honey would turn up the heat. If you’re not familiar with it, hot honey from brands like Mike’s Hot Honey is chile-infused, resulting in a delightful sweet-spicy condiment (I looooooove it drizzled on pizza). Using it in the dough adds a tingle of spiciness.
To bring in even more flavor and heat, I created a sweet-spicy glaze to brush on the hot dogs before baking. I mixed yellow mustard (a classic hot dog accompaniment) with more hot honey and a touch of soy sauce to amplify the hot dogs' umami. The flavor was almost there, but a spoonful of sriracha added to the glaze really boosted the spiciness and rounded things out to take these dogs up and over the top. I offer a teaspoon range for the sriracha amount, so you can adjust depending on how spicy you like it. Taste the glaze and add more sriracha as you see fit.
In the oven, the glaze becomes slightly caramelized and offers a burnished, glossy sheen to the crisp pastry and the juicy hot dogs. Crowned with a flaky pastry star, these hot dog firecrackers are the perfect combination of salty, sweet, and spicy—in other words, these festive franks finally taste just as good as they look.
For the dough: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray parchment with cooking spray; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk milk and hot honey until well combined and honey is dissolved.
Scatter butter cubes over flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or hands, cut or rub butter into flour until butter is the size of small peas. Add milk mixture and with a rubber spatula, gently mix until no dry flour remains and crumbly dough forms.
Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently gather together into a cohesive mass, then press into a rough 6- by 4-inch rectangle and sprinkle with additional flour. Use a rolling pin to roll until about 1/2-inch thick (10- by 6-inch rectangle). Starting from the short end, fold the dough in thirds, like a letter. Rotate 1/4 turn, roll out to 1/2-inch thickness again (10 by 6-inch rectangle), and fold in thirds again, re-flouring surface and dough as needed. Roll into a 9 1/2- by 13-inch rectangle, about ¼-inch thick.
Use a chef’s knife or bench scraper to trim away ragged edges and form a 9- by 12-inch rectangle. Working from long side, cut six to eight 3/4-inch wide, 9-inch long strips from dough (depending on how many hot dogs you’re using).
Use a 2-inch star cookie cutter to cut 6 to 8 stars from remaining dough; discard scraps. You can also use any 2-inch cookie cutter shape of your choice, or omit the cookie cutter dough cut outs, if desired. Transfer dough strips and stars, if using, to a large plate and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes while preparing glaze and hot dogs.
For the glaze and hot dogs: In a small microwave-safe bowl, whisk together hot honey, mustard, soy sauce, sriracha, and cornstarch. Microwave until bubbling, 30 to 60 seconds. Whisk to combine and set aside to cool slightly.
Pat hot dogs dry with paper towels. Carefully push a 10-inch skewer all the way through each hot dog lengthwise, with about 2 inches of skewer sticking out at top.
Starting from the top, wrap 1 dough strip around each hot dog 3 times in a spiral, leaving 3/4-inch gaps in the spiral as you wrap and pressing the dough ends to the back of the hot dog to adhere. Place on the greased parchment-lined baking sheet with the star ends pointing in alternating directions and tucking the ends of dough strips underneath hot dogs. Slide star cutout onto end of each skewer.
Use a pastry brush to coat the tops and sides of the hot dogs, dough strips, and dough stars with honey mustard glaze, trying to avoid getting excess glaze on the parchment.
Bake until biscuit strips are puffed and glaze is beginning to brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack and let hot dogs cool slightly on sheet, 2 to 3 minutes. Use a thin metal spatula to gently loosen the hot dogs from the parchment and transfer to a serving platter. Serve warm.
Special Equipment
Rimmed baking sheet, pastry blender, rolling pin, ruler, 2-inch star cookie cutter, 10-inch wooden skewers, pastry brush, wire rack.
Notes
I developed this recipe with Mike’s Hot Honey; other brands of hot honey may vary in spiciness. If you can’t find hot honey, use regular honey and add ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne to the dough and the sauce in steps 2 and 6. For a mild version of this dish, you can use regular honey instead of hot honey and skip the sriracha in the sauce.
The from-scratch dough in this recipe is extra flaky and flavorful, but you can substitute strips of refrigerated canned biscuit or croissant dough instead for a shortcut option (if you must!). Do not use puff pastry dough; it won’t have enough time in the oven to cook through.
Different brands of hot dogs come in packages of varying quantities, but the dough and glaze will make enough for up to 8.
To get the best fit on the baking sheet, arrange the skewers with the star ends pointing in alternating directions.
If you’re feeding a crowd, you can easily double this recipe. Split the dough into two portions and roll each to the specified dimensions. Bake the assembled hot dogs on two baking sheets on the upper-middle and lower-middle racks in the oven, switching and rotating the trays halfway through baking.
Make-Ahead and Storage
The biscuit dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before using.
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