Would you like a veggie Cthulhu in a blanket? Yes, please

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#Food#Recipes#Cthulhu#kids#snacks#vegetarian

I was recently inspired by this photo that Portland-based designer, developer, and writer Neven Mrgan tweeted last week — why make pigs in a blanket when you can make CTHULHUS in a blanket instead?! That’s right!

Of course, whenever I opt to try anything on my own there’s a high change it’ll end up in the ugly DIY archives. No matter! I opted to wrap my Cthulhus in biscuits, and just used the same old biscuit recipe I’ve been using for years. Here’s how it went down:

What you need

  • Hot dogs (I used 4 Veggie Dogs)
  • Biscuits

Biscuit Recipe

I cut my usual recipe in half, so here’s what I used specifically for these:

  • 1 C flour
  • 1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 Teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 C melted butter
  • 1/3 C milk (I added a little — somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2)

How you do it

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees, then melt the butter on the stove

2. Combine dry ingredients and slice one end of your hot dogs while butter is melting

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3. Add butter to dry mixture

4. Add milk to mixture

5. Roll dough into a ball, then place ball on a floured surface

6. Knead dough (I always play it by ear, so I don’t have a set time for this)

7. Roll out dough on floured surface

8. Slice your dough vertically

9. Wrap dough slices around the Cthulhus

10. Bake for 10 minutes

11. Eat!

The hot dogs in Neven’s photo are definitely more sliced than mine — I have no clue how he got the tentacles to splay out all over the place. TELL ME: how could this have been improved?

About the Author: Stephanie Kaloi

I was the editor of the now-defunct Offbeat Families, and owner/photographer at Stephanie Kaloi Photography in Portland, OR.

Comments on Would you like a veggie Cthulhu in a blanket? Yes, please

  1. It’s just something to do with the ingredients. I’ve tried to make hot dog octopi with veggie dogs and can never get them to splay out and curl up like regular hot dogs do!

  3. I’ve also had better luck, when making hotdog octopi, if I boil them instead of cook them in a pan. No idea why though, I’m no expert of meats and meat sciences.

  4. I think his splayed out more because they were cut longer too. I normally make spider dogs over a fire though, and sometimes they just don’t curl. it having to do with the veggie dogs makes sense too.

  5. I’ve made bento boxes before, including the cute little octopus wieners.
    The first trick is to make cross-cuts across the hot dog, each going through the center. That way, you have legs radiating from the middle. If you can get it into eight pieces, then that’s the best, but four will definitely do (It’s so hard to get four diagonal cuts into a tiny hot-dog!)

    You get them to curl out dramatically like that by frying them first in a pan, legs down. They spread out and then stay in that shape because of the cooking. You don’t need to use any oil if you don’t want; just a hot nonstick pan and gravity!

    Cooking with Dog on youtube has a great video on bento-box making that illustrates the octopus wiener here.

    • HA! Added!

      Basically, heat to 450, bake for 10 minutes. Pretty standard biscuit baking! The veggie dogs aren’t made from meat, so they don’t really need to be cooked for a specific amount of time (as far as I know).

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