Hello and welcome to Mashable's Air Friday, I am culture reporter Tim Morrison.
And on air Friday, we air fry anything and everything with your
favorite home appliance, the air fryer.
So this week we have a very special recipe. We're going to be making many Wheaties.
We're going to take these little hot dogs.
We're going to take your classic Pillsbury Crescent roll dough and we're going to make the
holiday appetizer that everybody loves to pass around the little mini hot dogs.
The reason we think this might be a good air fryer recipe is that,
you know, on the holidays,
your oven is full, your stove is packed with all the other things
you're making.
If you can take the air fryer, put it somewhere else.
Hop into appetizer and have it done in about five 10 minutes,
however long it's going to take.
That's going to save you time, space and energy,
and the cleanup should be pretty minimal.
The first step in our mini weenie adventure is probably the most difficult step for me.
It's getting this to open, pop,
press and pull it out, so we're going to pop.
Give it a little press with the back of a spoon.
Oh, there we go.
See, look there.
I finally got the pop over. Now we're going to press down and peel.
Look at that. I think I learned today.
See, OK,
so we have a roll of dough, and the next step is you have to get these little
perforated triangles separated, so then you can wrap the hotdogs and your personal
dough.
Now you just want to try to roll it out pretty gently.
I've got a roll of dough right here.
Little triangle and the Pillsbury website says it take this triangle and cut it into three pieces
each piece a long triangle will cover one hot dog.
Here's what you're looking for.
Nice little triangle that you can roll up a mini hot dog in.
I'm just going to make two crescent rolls worth of hot dogs because again,
I'm not cooking for a family.
But if you did the whole package, you're going to have about 24 mini hot dogs.
The next step in our mini hot dog adventure is we're going to open these little mini dogs.
We're going to put them in the dough and wrap them up.
We're going to put it on the thicker end of your crescent roll dough.
So you're going to take it put on the thick end and tuck and then slowly roll.
So you've got the thick end there and you've got a little rap like that.
So the next step, according to the Pillsbury website,
is, they say,
to line your air fryer with parchment paper.
Now typically this isn't something I do, but it's in the recipe,
so I'm going to do it.
The reason I don't do it is because part of the magic of an air fryer is beneath the screen.
There's a little bit of room for air to flow around and above and below,
and to the size of the food you're cooking.
You want that hot circulating air typically to cook things quicker and more evenly.
But the website says to put. A piece of parchment paper down the bottom.
And I'm going to follow the recipe because who am I to disagree with Pillsbury?
They invented this dish. So.
We're going to take the parts of paper just kind of smash it down.
It can't hurt to do that.
I'm going to take a little bit of spray spray and we're going to take our hot dogs and we're just going
to drop them in.
Now, the Pillsbury website says you don't need to
preheat your air fryer. They kind of build that in.
You can put the side down first, like they say,
to lick your little wrap side here. Here's the point where it connects.
You put that down first, so it seals a little bit better.
What we're going to do is cook it at 325 for about three or four minutes.
Flip 325 for three or four minutes more than eight minutes.
Total max of cook time.
And we should have perfect, perfectly done little mini hot dogs for an
appetizer. All right.
So we've been going for about three minutes. I'm going to check and maybe flip the hot dogs.
So if you look here, you can see the tops are already pretty puffy,
pretty brown. Bottom side really isn't cooked at all.
This might be on purpose. This might be a more delicate way to cook it.
Suppose we're Pillsbury might know what they're doing here.
We're going to put them back in there. Let them go for about three minutes.
And I think we should be good. And they were pretty done.
The Pillsbury website says you kind of are looking for a light brown color,
a little dark brown in some spots, that looks pretty done to me.
You put them on a plate here and it's turned out pretty good.
It's got a nice little puffiness that you're looking for.
The hot dog has a nice little char, darker red color on the end,
and it's firm enough.
It's really good.
It is a many, many,
many weenie wrapped in crescent, although it's delicious.
It's nice and fluffy. You've got kind of flaky this one on the interior.
The hot dogs fully heated through. It's good.
That was a really simple way to make an appetizer that lots of people love for the holidays.
I say if you need space in your oven, just bring out the air fryer and do it.
It was easy and delicious.