Halloween Party Food: Severed Fingers

In my collection of Halloween Party Food, Severed Fingers have to rank close to the favorite. These little digits are absurdly easy to make and they can't be beat for sheer "ick" factor. As an extra bonus, they come close to being nutritious, depending on your choice of hot dog and bread dough.

Hot dog "fingers" wrapped in bread dough "bandages" pretty much sums up this recipe. I cut each dog in half crosswise to make smaller "finger food," but they could be left full size. Just about any bread dough will do, from refrigerator crescent rolls to biscuits to frozen bread dough. Since I'm baking Oatmeal Bread for the party anyway, I set aside a portion to use as bandages for the fingers.

Transforming ordinary hot dogs into amputated fingers requires a specific visual cue: fingernails. Sliced almonds do quite nicely. The only possible difficulty is shaping the end of the wiener to receive the sliced nut, but after a couple of tries, you'll be giggling in ghastly glee.

The following recipe makes about 40 fingers, figuring on 10 hot dogs to a package, enough for a party with maybe a few left over for lunch the next day.

Recipe: Severed Fingers

2 pounds kosher hot dogs (best quality)
bread dough for 1 loaf
8 oz. sliced almonds
ketchup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a pizza stone or parchment lined baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Cut each hot dog in half crosswise to make two short fingers.

With a sharp paring knife slice about 1/2" of "skin" from the end of each finger, to form a bed for the fingernail. With the tip of the knife, poke a slot just underneath the skin at the base of the nail bed, so the sliced almond can slip beneath the "cuticle." This is much more difficult to explain than it is to do!

Poke a slice of almond into each cuticle so that it lies flat against the end of the hot dog.

Pinch off a ball of dough (about 1/4 c.) and flatten it into a "bandage" about 2" x 6". Beginning at the "fingertip" wrap bandage around finger, leaving a loose end to conceal the cut end of the hot dog. Remember these are supposed to look gross and disgusting, so please don't worry about making tidy bandages.

You may smear ketchup "blood" on the severed fingers before baking if you like. I usually leave a few "clean" for guests who don't care for ketchup.

Place bandaged fingers on  prepared pan; bake about 15 minutes or until bread wrappers are lightly browned.  

Set Severed Fingers out on your Halloween Party Food table with Bloody Ketchup and (unmentionable) Brown Mustard.