Sleeping Dogs Pigs In A Blanket Recipe

I saw this idea on a cooking video. Making these Sleeping Dog Pigs in A Blanket was a fun project.

My Sleeping Dogs were not nearly as cute as the lady's in the video. Some of the heads got pretty lopsided, and the faces were challenging to draw.

I made a few practice faces on the cutting board. The angle of the heads made it difficult to "draw" the faces on, not to mention, they were piping hot, straight out of the oven.

More important than the looks was the taste. Mr. In The Mid-west said the bread on these Pigs In A Blanket was excellent! He really liked it. :)

To make the Sleeping Dog shape, I took the portion of dough and divided it into two pieces. The smaller piece was about 1/3 of the portion of dough.

I rolled the larger piece out big enough to fit a half of a hot dog onto.

I pinched the long edges together.

 At one end of the hot dog I folded the dough under.

At the other end I pinched the open to seal it shut. The I used scissors to snip the flap into what would be the dog's front legs.

To make the dog's head I formed the small piece of dough into a flattened circle.

I used scissors to cut the ears away from the face.

I pinched the corners of the face together to make a rounded chin.

I used the egg wash to attach the dog's head to the body. I think this was a mistake. The egg wash made the area very slippery. I think the heads would have had a better connection without the egg wash.

Before going into the oven the whole surface of the dough got an egg wash. This made them turn out nicely browned and glossy.

To make the "paint" for the faces I mixed together a small amount of flour and cocoa powder with a tiny amount of water. I didn't have a recipe for this part, so I had to improvise.

Here is the recipe:

Sleeping Dogs Pigs In A Blanket

1 pound of hotdogs (8 hotdogs) cut in half

4 1/2 tsp. Yeast

3/4 cup Warm Water

1/3 cup Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup Butter, room temperature

4 cups All-purpose Flour

Egg Wash:

1 Egg, beaten

2 TBS. Water

Face Paint:

Flour

Cocoa powder

Water

To make the bread dough, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Stir in the sugar, salt, 2 eggs, butter, and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in remaining flour until smooth. Knead dough until elastic and gluten is developed. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough. Divide into 16 even pieces. Shape each piece around the hot dog halves as described above to make sleeping dog shapes.

Place on a greased baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Bake in preheated oven at 400° F. for 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven. Quickly pipe on faces with cocoa powder/flour/water paste.

Return to oven for 1 minute.

Remove from oven cool slightly. Serve warm with ketchup (if desired).