Halloween Recipe - Slithering Snake Snack

As I mentioned earlier, we are hosting a Carnival of the Creepy Crawlers this year for Halloween and I am busy creating recipes for our party. Creating food in the shape of a snake has proven to be very simple. I decided to transform "pigs in a blanket" into a snake. No matter how much I don't want to admit it, anything shaped out of pigs in a blanket gets eaten at my parties. I'm not a big fan of hot dogs, but have discovered Nathan's beef franks and have to admit, they are quite delicious.

I used Wilton Food Mist food coloring spray to color my snake, but I might recommend just brushing on black and orange food coloring as it might be a little neater. This is pretty easy recipe to create, the only challenge is moving the snake once it is completed. I used a long metal spatula to lift the back end of the snake up and I held the front end and swiftly moved it onto a plastic wrap covered leaf paper.

Ingredients:

1 tube Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations Sheet

a dusting of flour

6 hot dogs (I recommend Nathan's Beef Franks)

Orange and Black food coloring spray or food coloring

1 strip of roasted red pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a baking sheet or baking stone in the oven to preheat, as well.

Unroll crescent sheet on a lightly floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to a 8”x13” rectangle. Cut into two 4”x13” strips.

 Cut 3 hots dogs into 3/4” slices. Remove the end pieces. Lay together down the middle of one dough strip leaving an inch of uncovered dough at one end (for the head). Bring the two sides of the dough up and over the hot dogs. Pinch the dough together to seal shut. Roll over so seam is on the bottom. Form a snake head out of the hot dog less end.

Cut one more hot dog into 3/4” slices and remove the end pieces. Lay down the middle at the very end of the other dough strip. Cut the tips off the remaining two hot dogs. Lay them together on a cutting board. Cut along the edges of the hot dogs, gradually tapering the ends to a point. Cut the tapered hot dogs into 1/2”-3/4” slices. Set in the middle of the dough strip. Bring the two sides of the dough up and over the hot dogs. Pinch the dough together to seal shut. Roll over so seam is on the bottom.

Lay a large piece of parchment paper on your work surface. Arrange the two halves of the snake in a slithering pattern on the paper. Pinch the dough together at the middle of the snake.

Spray (or brush) stripes of orange and black all along the snake.

As you can see the food coloring spray creates quite a mess on the parchment paper. I didn't want the spray to burn in the oven, so I carefully transferred the snake to a piece of non-stick foil set on the back side of a baking sheet.

Cut out two circles and one tongue from the strip of roasted red pepper. Cut them larger than you want them, as they will shrink in the oven. Mine are smaller than I would have liked them. Attach to the snake.  Slide the snake and the foil onto the hot baking sheet or baking stone in the oven.  Bake for 10-14 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring the snake to a serving platter. Serve hot.

 I found this fun paper at United Art and Education and plan to cover my kitchen island with it for our party.  I'll cover the entire thing with plastic wrap and place the food directly on top.