DESSERT DOGS INSPIRED BY THE SIMPSONS

For the Meringue Bun

Start by separating egg whites into a large bowl and add and cream tartar to the whites before using a wire whisk to whip the whites into a foam. This will take 1-2 minutes on medium high speed. I recommend using a stand mixer for this.

Make sure your pre-measured granulated sugar is free of lumps and prepare your food coloring. To get a nice light brown, add 3 drops of red and yellow food color while adding 2 drops of blue. Tweak this to whatever color you desire.

Slowly add sugar while the mixer runs on medium speed. Once all the sugar has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat the egg whites until they have reached stiff peaks. This is a good time to add any last minute changes to the color. Beat the egg whites for 3-5 minutes until smooth and glossy and they form stiff peaks.

To form the meringue into buns, bend cannoli rolls open a little bit so they can stand on their own and then cover with aluminum foil. Spread the meringue across the molds until it resembles an inverted hot dog bun.

Place into a 225℉ oven for 2 ½ hours. Do not open the oven door, even when they are done. They need to sit in the oven until the whole oven has cooled off completely.

Once removed from the oven, remove the aluminum foil from the “bun” very carefully, as they are extremely fragile. Once everything has been removed, set aside until ready to assemble.

For the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Add butter, white sugar, brown sugar and egg into a large mixing bowl and mix until combined before adding all-purpose flour, baking soda and kosher salt.

Add finely chopped bittersweet chocolate and mix until combined. Mold the dough into the shape of hot dogs.

Cover with plastic wrap and place the “hot dogs” in the freezer for about 1 hour to completely solidify.

For the Cherry Ketchup

Start off by using a chopstick to pit cherries and put them into a blender. Blend to extract the juices from the cherries.

Once the extracting is finished, strain with a strainer or cheesecloth into a small sauce pan. Add the harvested pits to the strainer since they contain a lot of juice. Press into the sieve until you have nothing left except for a bunch of cherry pulp.

Place the pan with the juices onto the stove top with sugar, depending on how sweet your cherries were to start with. Whisk together, and once everything has cooked and dissolved, it’s time to thicken.

Put a few tablespoons of the cherry mixture into a small bowl and add cornstarch. Whisk together until it forms a slurry. Add the slurry to the sauce pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes until nice and thick.

For the Caramel Mustard

Add water and sugar to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer without stirring. All the sugar should dissolve and it should resemble a nice amber color after about 10 minutes.

At this point, kill the heat and add heavy cream while whisking constantly. Keep whisking until it’s nice and smooth. After cooling off for 1-2 minutes, add butter and whisk to combine. Make sure to season the caramel by adding a generous pinch of salt and mix it all together.

For the Batter to Deep Fry Cookie Dough

In a large mixing bowl, add all-purpose flour, each of baking soda and kosher salt, of sugar and whisk to combine before adding milk.

Stir together and until no lumps remain and it resembles a very thin pancake batter. Adjust with more milk and/or flour as necessary.

For the Dessert Dog Assembly

Retrieve the cookie dough “hot dogs” from the freezer and place them in the batter, covering every inch of the cookie dough. Place it in a large pot filled with 1 quart of vegetable oil heated to 375℉.

Let each cookie dough log fry for 2-4 minutes or until golden brown.

Place the “hot dog” cookie dough log delicately into the meringue bun and drizzle with the cherry ketchup and caramel mustard.