Homemade Vegan Corndogs

Whaaaaaattttt?? No, I have not lost my mind. Yes, these are (or, were) amazing. I initially set out in search of a vegan corndog recipe and this one sounded the most promising. I knew I didn't want to veganize a non-vegan recipe because dealing with egg replacements in this sort of thing can be a pain. I honestly wasn't expecting much because a.) I have never seriously deep-fried anything before and b.) any online recipe that calls for "1/2 tablespoon" of anything is a little shady to me.

So here it is, with a little tweaking, VEGAN CORNDOGS!!

Ingredients:

5 veggie hot dogs, cut in half

10 bamboo skewers or popsickle sticks (optional)

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder (in the "veganwolf.com" recipe, I took "bp" to mean baking powder--I must have been right)

1/2 teaspoon salt

black pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened soymilk

2 tablespoons oil (olive, canola, whatever)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Start by heating some vegetable oil in a wide, relatively deep pan. I used one 24 oz (1.5 pt.) bottle of oil in a medium/large non-stick saucepan, which worked well. Heat the oil on medium-high heat while you mix up the batter and prep your dogs:

Mix the dry ingredients for the batter in a mixing bowl. Add the soymilk and oil, and stir just until combined. The consistency should be like thick pancake or muffin batter.

Stick a skewer in each veggie dog half, then coat evenly in the batter. Gently put the battered dogs into the hot oil and fry until golden, about 4-5 minutes. Be careful not to overload the pan. I did 3 at a time.

Drain on paper towels. Leftovers can be re-heated in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

**This recipe makes 10 mini dogs.

**Get creative with flavors by adding herbs and spices to the batter, as well as trying lots of different dipping sauces. Also, easily expand this recipe for a party or cookout. Yum!!