Pigless In a Blanket

It was time for the Company holiday party, and I was trying to figure out what to serve. I knew I wanted to do some good, easy finger-foods and not make too much work for myself. So, I put a spin on a cinnamon roll recipe from vegweb, which was basically a good potato bun recipe, and turned it into a tasty bread roll for my "hot dogs." It's a pig in a blanket, without the pig, and also includes a creamy cheeze sauce in the middle. A little of the cheeze did ooze out after baking, but it may be because I added too much margarine (which wasn't needed), and have cut it down in the recipe. I served them with the traditional condiments (mustard, ketchup, relish, etc.) Both vegans and omni's loved them, and devoured them!

Makes about 24

Ingredients:

2 packages of your favorite tofu dogs (I used Ive's 4-pack)
4 1/2 C. flour (up to 1/2 may be whole wheat)
1 T. vital wheat gluten (optional, but especially useful if using the whole wheat flour)
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 C. warm water (or soy milk)
1/2 C. mashed cooked potato (I use instant potato flakes and water to equal 1/2 cup)
1/3 C. melted margarine

Cheeze filling (optional)
- 3 or 4 T. Tofutti Cream Cheese
- half block of Vegan Mozarella (I used the 10oz. Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet)
- 1 T. Vegenaise or vegan margarine
1 tsp. parsley flakes
cracked black pepper

Spinz:

In a small bowl, add the hot water and cold soy milk. Add the yeast to the warm liquid and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, mix up all of the dry ingredients (flour, gluten, sugar, salt, garlic powder). In a processor, put in all the filling ingredients and blend until smooth. By now, the yeast mixture should be nice and foamy. Make a little well in the dry mix, and add the yeast mixture, mashed potato, and melted margarine. Mix/ knead together until it forms a nice smooth dough. Place back into a greased bowl, cover and set aside for an hour to rise.

Meanwhile, cut up your soy dogs into 1 1/2 - 2" pieces. I cut mine into thirds. Now go watch TV, make some cookies, or just stand around and goof off until that hour has passed. The dough should have just about doubled in size. You can now twist off a softball sized piece and roll it between your hands to form a "log." From this, you can cut golf-sized pieces with a knife, and roll each piece into a ball. Flaten and roll out the ball to about 1/4" thickness, and start contruction by placing about 1/2 to 1 tsp. of the cheeze mixture in the center of the dough. Then, place a soy dog piece on top of that, and bring opposite sides of the dough to the top center (like a taco) and pinch together. Close up the sides to seal and pull the dough up towards the top to form a nice ball. Put the ball onto a prepared sheet pan, seam side down. Now let them puff up again for another hour. At this point, you can either cover them in plastic and hold them in the fridge 'til later, or place in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, then broil for about 2 minutes or until golden on top (optional).