"Bloody Finger" Hot Dogs for Halloween

I recently did a "finger foods" segment on FOX59. Even though it incorporated foods you can eat with your fingers, it was actually a play on words because all the food looked like fingers. I thought it would be so funny for Halloween! I think my coworkers were a little weirded out at first, but I thought it was hilarious!

I knew hot dogs turned into "bloody fingers" would be the perfect addition to the segment.

I've actually been creating hot dog "art" for years. When I was in high school, I babysat for a family with four young children. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why they trusted me with so many young children—probably because I was cheap. Anyway, they requested hot dogs for dinner every time I was there babysitter. One time, I decided to cut the ends of the hot dogs so it looked like an octopus' tentacles, and they thought it was the funniest thing! Then they started to request more complex animals like giraffes and elephants. I tried my best, and even though they didn't turn out great, the kids still loved them.

I channeled my inner hot dog artist skills for these fingers. They're very easy to make (much simpler than giraffes and elephants)--just cut a square sliver near the top for the nail bed and several arced slits for your finger joints. Make sure you do this before cooking the hot dogs because once you boil them the slits will open up.

Bloody finger hot dogs
Ingredients

• Hot dogs
• Hot dog buns
• Ketchup

Directions

1. Make the finger beds by using a sharp paring knife to slice the two sides straight down and the top and bottom with a slight arc. The carefully cut the tiny piece off.
2. Make the knuckles by cutting arced slits, directly above and below each other, about a third of the way down the hot dog. Do the same thing in the middle of the hot dog and a third of the way from the bottom of the hot dog.
3. Boil the hot dogs for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Load a hot dog bun up with lots of ketchup and place a hot dog inside the bun. Add more ketchup on top of the bottom of the finger. Repeat with remaining hot dogs.