Pretzel Wrapped Hot Dogs with Everything Bagel Spice and Cheesy Mustard Dipping Sauce

Hot dogs are my guilty pleasure. I am fully aware that they are made of hoofs and snouts and whatever other grossness and ground up into a delicious edible phallus looking object and I don’t care. So let’s celebrate that. Plus I made pretzels and topped them with everything bagel spice (the BEST kind of bagel) to really get into it. On top of all of that I decided to dip it into a cheese and mustard sauce. Ain’t no party like a hot dawg partay!

Pretzel Wrapped Hot Dogs with Everything Bagel Spice and Cheesy Mustard Dipping Sauce

Prep time: 45 mins, (1 hour inactive)
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Yield: 10 pretzel dogs

INGREDIENTS

For the Pretzel Dogs

• 10 of your favourite type of hot dog

• 1 ½ cups warm water

• 1 package active dry yeast

• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

• 1 tsp salt

• 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

• ¼ cup butter, melted

• 1 egg yolk whisked with 1 tbsp water (for egg wash)

• Everything Bagel Spice for sprinkling

• For the Baking Soda Bath

• 12 cups water

• ¾ cup baking soda

For the Cheesy Mustard Dipping Sauce

• 2 tbsp butter

• 2 tbsp flour

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 cup good quality cheddar cheese*

• 1 tbsp yellow mustard

• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

 *Using a pre-grated low quality cheese blend will produce a grainy and not so smooth sauce. I don’t recommend trying to save time by buying the bagged stuff!

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine the warm water, yeast and sugar. Let rest for 5-10 minutes until bubbly. If your mixture does not bubble stop here - it means you need to buy fresh yeast.

Add in flour and melted butter. Mix on low speed using the dough hook attachment until combined. Increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl (approximately 5 minutes). Remove the dough from the bowl. Drizzle some vegetable oil into the bowl and coat the ball of dough in it. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly oil them. Set aside.

Divide your dough into 10 equal pieces. Cover any pieces not being immediately used with a damp cloth to prevent them from drying out/ cracking. Roll each piece of dough out into a rope approximately 1cm in diameter. The ropes should be around 3-4 times as long as each hot dog. Wrap the ropes around each hot dog, being sure to pinch the ends together tightly onto themselves so that they do not unravel.  Place the wrapped dogs onto the prepared baking sheets.

In a large pot bring the water and the baking soda to a boil. Boil each pretzel wrapped dog for 30 seconds and then remove it with a slotted spoon, placing it back onto the baking sheet when finished. You should be able to boil 2-3 pretzel wrapped dogs at a time.

Brush the tops of the pretzel dogs with the egg wash (egg yolk and water mixture) and sprinkle with everything bagel spice. Bake until golden brown in colour, approximately 12-14 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

In the meantime, in a medium sized saucepan heat the butter for the cheesy mustard sauce over medium-low heat. Once melted, stir in the flour, whisking continuously in a figure 8 motion to avoid lumps. Stir in salt and slowly pour in milk, continuing to stir until the sauce has thickened. Mix in cheese, mustard and cayenne, stirring until sauce is smooth and creamy.

Pour the sauce into a bowl and serve on the side of your gorgeous everything bagel spice pretzel wrapped hot dogs. Now that’s a mouthful.