Franks in Mallawach Blankets

Not long ago, my daughter Rach and her hubby Eyal asked if I could take the kids for Shabbat (4 lively grandkids aged 3-almost 13) so they could have a getaway Shabbat.

DH and I were really pleased since we haven’t hosted them in awhile and we were looking forward to it. I asked my daughter what they’d like to eat and she correctly said, ask them! Too true, they are old enough to tell me. So my granddaughter Noa gave me a list as long as an orangutan’s arm. She was a riot. She described in detail all of her heart’s desires (foodwise, anyway 🙂 ) and amongst them was “Moshe Ba’Tayva” which translates to Moshe Rabbenu in his little boat (in the Nile, you know the story) but what it really means is franks in blankets.

She looked at me so earnestly that I simply couldn’t resist her and I made literally everything she requested. Her siblings were happy too, heh heh.

So, you can buy premade ones but they come in puff pastry dough and I decided to get something a tad healthier (not to say I never use the stuff, I do sometimes, just wanted to go a bit healthier, although hot dogs – eh, whatever 😉 ).

So I bought the hotdogs and decided to purchase mallawach, a yemenite dough which comes in a round, usually 6 to a package, frozen. This puffs a bit and gives a soft/crispy dough. It’s not as crackly crispy as puff pastry, so less crumbs to worry about.

I actually got the recipe for mallawach once from a nice Yemenite lady and made it, but since I had my long list of food to prepare, just bought ’em. Then take your package of hot dogs and rinse and pat dry with paper towels.

Gently stretch the mallawach dough into a rectangle (approximate is fine) so you get two hot dog wrappers out of the round, and enclose the hot dog envelope style. Lay them down on a pan with a parchment sheet on it with the seam face down.

Brush blanketed franks with beaten egg for a nice gloss and to brown tops properly. Bake in hot 350 oven till nicely browned about 25-30 minutes.

If you like you can leave a bit of the frank peeking out for fun.

Franks in Mallawach Blankets

1 package Mallawach – about 6 circles per package which you will gently stretch and cut in half to give you wraps for 12 franks

1 package franks (about 12 per package)

1 egg beaten for egg wash

mustard, ketchup, mayo as optional dippers

Directions:

Let the package of Mallawach defrost but keep cold in fridge till using. I usually defrost overnight and pop into fridge before going to work. By the afternoon, they are ready to roll.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sprinkle a little flour on parchment paper or silicone mat and peel the plastic off the mallawach and very lightly flour to ease the stretching. Stretch just enough so that you can cut the dough in half and it will completely encase the frank in it. Do this one at a time and place on a pan with parchment paper on it.

Brush the pastry wrapped franks with the beaten egg wash. Pop into the hot oven for 25-30 minutes or until the mallawach turns a nice golden brown. I didn’t smear the dough with mustard or any other conditment because the kids wouldn’t have touched them but you can if you wish or plate them with a drizzle of mustard and mayo. Don’t think for a second that the adults didn’t scarf down these treats. We are all kids at heart!