Butterfly Crescent Dogs

I have another amazing guest to share with you today.  Beth is here from Hungry Happenings.  Her blog is CRAM PACKED with completely adorable and fun recipes.  She has shared many of her great ideas at the weekly For the Kids Friday link party here at Sun Scholars, and currently is running a giveaway on her blog for her book, Hungry Halloween.  Beth is SO creative!  If you haven't found her blog yet, GO NOW!  You don't want to miss the fun stuff going on at Hungry Happenings!

Some of my personal favorites over at Hungry Happenings...

    

        
1) Slumber Party Snacks                 2) Starfish S'mores
3) Carrot Crescents         4) Chicken & Chips Butterfly

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Tell me what kid wouldn't LOVE this...

Isn't it nice to dig into a plate of visually appealing food? As an adult, I look for food that looks fresh and vibrant in color, or perhaps warm and inviting.  Our kids are bombarded with so much exciting visual stimuli these days that it's hard to get their lunch or dinner to live up to the colorful world they live in. Over at Hungry Happenings, I develop themed cuisine primarily for holidays and special occasions, but who says lunch on Saturday afternoon can't be a special occasion? 

Last month I was asked to teach a classroom full of 6-10 year olds how to cook something simple and fun.  Our menu included hot dog butterflies, pretty melon flowers, and peanut butter fudge caterpillars. The kids in the class had never eaten food that looked like something other than plain food, and their eyes lit up when I showed them what they would be making. During the class, they were very focused as I helped each of them make their own lunch. They couldn't wait for their creations to be ready to eat, and when we finally sat down for lunch, I found that even the pickest kids in the group ate their creations.

At Hungry Happenings this month, I'm working on recipes to go along with a Creepy Crawler menu for Halloween or bug themed parties and will be sharing recipes for food that looks like spiders, caterpillars, bumble bees, ladybugs and more.  Some of the food is a bit creepy, but some is just plain cute.  Speaking of cute, today I'm going to share with you one of the recipes from my class for Butterfly Crescent Dogs.  So, grab your kids and head into the kitchen to share some fun.

Butterfly Crescent Dogs

Ingredients: (makes 2)
- 1 tube Pillsbury Crescent Creations Dough Sheet (or crescent rolls with the seams pressed together)
- 1 bun size (long) hot dog cut in half
- 4 chow mein noodles or potato sticks
- food coloring marker

Special equipment:
- parchment paper or Silpat liner
- 4" heart shaped cookie cutter
- optional: mini cookie cutters (round, oval, heart, star)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat liner

Unroll crescent dough and cut in half widthwise.  Lay one piece down on a cutting board.

Set cut hot dog at one end.  Roll dough around hot dog.  Cut off just enough dough to cover the hot dog.  Pinch seams of dough together, removing any excess if needed.  Roll into a nice smooth log.

Use heart shaped cookie cutter to cut two hearts out of the dough.  Cut off tips of each of the hearts.  Set hearts together on a parchment lined baking sheet. Use small cookie cutters to cut designs out of the hearts (butterfly wings.)

Set crescent dough wrapped hot dog in the center of the wings.  Use a food coloring marker to draw on a face. Note: if you don't have a food coloring marker, you can wait until the butterflies are out of the oven and use ketchup or mustard to create a face. You could also use black sesame seeds for eyes and skip the mouth.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.  Press two chow mein noodles or potato sticks into the top of the butterfly's head to create antenna.  Serve hot.