Valentine's Day - "Bee Mine" Corn Dog Bumble Bees

Turn an ordinary corn dog into the cutest Valentine's Day lunch or dinner. These Corn Dog Bumble Bees are easy to make and will brighten your kid's day.

My childhood memories of Valentine's Day are quite vivid.  I remember spending hours transforming a shoebox into a beautifully adorned box covered with red heart-shaped cut-outs, bows, and ribbon.

I always wanted to have a really pretty box to act as my mailbox during our class Valentine's Day party.  The biggest thrill of the party was exchanging cards and hoping that I got a really sweet one from the boy with whom I had a crush.

After school, I would sit with my mom, eating the box of conversation hearts she had given me, and we would read all of the cards laughing at the corny jokes and discussing the party.  Evening came and we had dinner together as a family, but honestly, I couldn't tell you what we ate.

I thought it would be fun to create a meal that your kids would find so fun, that they might just remember it when they reminisce about their childhood Valentine's Days.

I think this recipe will surely get your kids excited about eating dinner on Valentine's Day and hopefully will be memorable too.  This recipe for bumblebee corn dogs was actually created for our Halloween party this past October, but during the party, my sister suggested that this recipe would be fun for so many other occasions. Her kids' elementary school's mascot is a bee and she thought her friends would love to make these for their kids.  When I began creating recipes for Valentine's Day, I thought about all of the images associated with this holiday and bumblebees came to mind as they are often associated with the phrase "be mine", or rather, "bee mine."

I use store-bought corn dogs for this recipe, as I think they taste pretty good and they can easily be decorated with their stripes, baked, then adorned with their tortilla chip wings and chow mein noodle antenna. I originally designed this recipe for a very large crowd at our party.

So, I used a sponge roller, purchased from the craft store, to paint two stripes onto each bee (as shown in the picture above.)  The roller made fast work painting stripes onto 60 bumblebee corn dogs for our party.

I've written the directions using the sponge roller, but you can also just use a pastry brush or even a small paintbrush to paint 4 or even 5 stripes on each bee (as shown at left). Just be sure to use a brand new paintbrush or one that is only used for food for this project.

Ingredients:

5 frozen corn dogs

black paste food coloring*

10 corn tortilla chips

10 chow mein noodles

Special equipment needed:

1" wide sponge roller or small paintbrush

non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper

disposable plate

*purchase black paste food coloring

 at a cake/candy supply store or at

 your local craft store.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Unwrap the corn dogs and set on a piece of non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Pour some black coloring onto a disposable plate. Roll sponge brush into coloring and roll coloring onto each corn dog to create two stripes (or use a paintbrush to paint 4-5 stripes on the corn dog. If using a paintbrush pour the coloring onto a plate. Do not put the brush directly into the jar of coloring then onto the corn dog or you can contaminate the coloring.)

Paint eyes and a smile onto each corn dog.

Set corn dogs on the lined baking sheet.

Bake corn dogs according to package instructions.  I don't recommend using the microwave, as the cornbread coating will be too soft to hold the tortilla chip wings in place.

Remove corn dogs from the oven.

Press two corn tortilla chips into the middle of each corn dog bee, to create its wings.  Add two chow mein noodles above the bee's eyes to create its antenna.

Serve hot.  If you are serving these at a party, bake the corn dogs according to the package instructions then add the wings and antenna and return to a 200 degree oven to keep warm until ready to serve.  Do not bake at 350 degrees with the corn chips and chow mein noodles attached as they will burn.

If you'd like, pipe "Bee Mine" in mustard on a plate before serving. You could also use Valentine's Day paper plates and just write "Be Mine" in marker off to the side of the plate. Have fun making these, and I'm sure your kids will have fun eating them.  Just a note, your kid's mouths will turn black temporarily after eating these bees.  This will fade as they drink something or after they brush their teeth. The kids at our Halloween party thought that their black mouths were cool.  They all giggled as they showed off their colored tongues.

If you like this recipe, please share it with others by using the share buttons below. I really appreciate being Stumbled Upon, and am always grateful to those of you that share my ideas on your website. I do request that you don't post my entire tutorial, but rather share a picture with a link and be sure to mention the recipe came from Hungry Happenings. If you make this recipe, I'd love for you to send me a photo to beth@hungryhappenings.com. Thank you for visiting Hungry Happenings - Beth

 If you are looking for other treats or gifts to make for Valentine's Day,
you might like these other recipes too.

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Beth

Hi, I'm Beth Jackson Klosterboer, a professional chocolatier & baker, cookbook author, and event planner. I love sharing recipes for happy occasions here on Hungry Happenings. I also create easy fudge recipes to share at HowToMakeEasyFudge.com, rice krispie treat recipes at HowToMakeCerealTreats.com, and easy cookie recipes at HowToMakeEasyCookies.com

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