Mini Bagel Dogs with Cheese

So, I won’t lie and say these are real bagels, but they taste pretty close to them, especially when you add the everything bagel topping. The hot dogs are stuffed with cheese just oozing out of the sides and the pizza dough makes a great vehicle for dipping. These mini bagel dogs with cheese are easy and quick to prepare and can even be frozen to heat up for a snack later.

During my freshman year of college, my dorm was situated on top of Einstein Bagels. Luckily, it also was included on our (required) meal plan, so my mornings usually started off with a bowl of fruit and an everything bagel with jalapeno cream cheese. And I guess some of my nights ended that way too since I wasn’t fond of the traditional cafeteria fare. They had a lot of options for the meal plan, but it was usually limited to one or two things, and the nicer offerings usually cost additional money so I’d traditionally shy away from them.

Sitting behind the glass were these wonderful looking “bagel dogs” which I rarely got because they weren’t included in the meal plan, but always wanted. When my parents visited me for the first time after I had moved in, we all went down to Einstein in the morning (not entirely sure why because, hello! I ate there every day) and my dad ordered a couple of bagel dogs. They were amazing.

I’m not quite sure if they were amazing because I had been eating nothing but bagels, fruit, and the occasional sandwich from The Hungry Cougar, or if because they were really that good. I’m banking on the latter.

After that, my dad would always go to Einstein to order a bagel dog on their way out of town when they’d visit (and subsequently was able to do it again 2 years later when my brother moved into the same dorm I did freshman year). And then he got smart and started making his own. Whenever we would have homemade pizza, we’d always have scraps leftover so he’d roll a hotdog and some cheese in it and bake it along with the pies. These are my take on those delicious bagel dogs we used to order – way easier since we’re not using real bagel dough, but the everything bagel mixture makes them taste pretty close.

Mini Bagel Dogs with Cheese

1 ball of pre-made pizza dough (I bought mine at Trader Joe’s, also used here)
5 hot dogs
Cheddar cheese
Poppy seeds
Sesame seeds
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
1 egg, beaten
Mustard, for serving, optional

Begin by preheating your oven to 425 degrees. Take out the pizza dough and divide into 10 pieces. Next, prep your hot dogs. Cut the hot dogs in half and then on each half, split the dogs by cutting into them lengthwise, being careful not to get all the way to the bottom. If you do cut all the way through, it’s not a problem, you can just wrap it up carefully with the dough. Stuff thin slices of cheese in the slit in the hot dogs and set aside.

Using a little flour if necessary, start stretching and rolling the individual pieces of dough. Once you have stretched it to at least a foot, take one mini hot dog and start at one end and tightly coil and wrap the hot dogs. Once you reach the other end of the hot dog, you can pinch the excess of the dough to cover both of the ends. Place on a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining mini hot dogs. If you find it hard to “coil” the hot dogs with the dough, you can roll out the individual pieces of dough on a floured surface until it is large enough to cover the entire hot dog. Roll it up and pinch the seams to close.

Once all of the hot dogs have been wrapped, combine equal parts of the poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic powder, and onion powder in a bowl to use as the everything bagel mixture (I used less than 1/4 tsp of each – depending upon how much seasoning you want on the dogs, use more or less). Then brush the wrapped hot dogs with the beaten egg and sprinkle on the everything bagel mixture.

Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the mini hot dogs are golden brown. Serve immediately plain or with a bit of mustard.