Impress Your BBQ Guests With A Creative Hot Dog-Inspired No-Bake Dessert

Hot dogs are an iconic summer staple at backyard gatherings, game day tailgates, and petting zoo trips with the kids. They fit in your hand, are easy to eat on the go, and you can dress them up in dozens of ways. While there are many styles of hot dogs, like Chicago-style hot dogs popular all over the U.S., sweeter versions are stealing the dessert table's spotlight. These are the dessert dogs, decadent versions of the game day favorite, made to be just as familiar and iconic as the classic hot dog.

No-bake dessert dogs are easy to make using Twix bars or Twizzlers red licorice in place of the meat-based hot dogs you'd buy at the grocery store. Instead of being nestled into the perfect hot dog bun for your style of savory dog, the Twix or Twizzlers version is put inside a Twinkie. Then the whole thing is topped with red and yellow frosting, creating a smaller, sweeter replica of a traditional hot dog.

There are many ways to make dessert hot dogs, including from scratch using things homemade sponge cake, or even deep-fried cookie dough. Home chefs are getting creative with these delicious takes on the classic hot dog and even calling them by the same name, though they aren't made from any of the same ingredients.

Twinkie dessert dogs look just like traditional hot dogs when they're sliced down the center, and the filling serves as an extra condiment. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the Twinkies to make them look even more like a hot dog bun. Put a single Twix bar into the center of the sliced Twinkie and then top the whole thing with yellow and red frosting to complete the dessert dog. When using Twizzler's red licorice as your "meat," you could add chocolate mousse.

If you want to do a little baking, replicate a hot dog bun with perfect homemade chocolate chip cookie dough or springy sponge cake. Make the hot dog center with homemade brownies in silicone hot dog molds to form the centers of dessert dogs and pair those with buns made from cake in hot dog bun molds. Condiments can also include jellies and jams, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips, sprinkles, and chopped fruit. Serve dessert dogs fully put together or buffet style to give your guests the full experience of loading up a sweet hot dog with decadent toppings.

While they're a fun way to dress up your barbecue, dessert dogs aren't new to the sweets scene. A Boston man named Peter Franklin is believed to have created the concept in the late 1990s with the invention of Cool Dogs, a dessert made with ice cream fashioned to look like a hot dog. It was surrounded by a sponge cake bun and topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. Franklin modified dog manufacturing equipment to create the ice cream hot dogs and sold the dessert at Fenway Park as well as in regional stores and amusement parks. While the desserts were popular, Franklin struggled to make a profit and sold the company in 2007. Cool Dogs treats disappeared from shelves in the 2010s, with the business unable to hold its own among bigger ice cream and dessert companies.

Sweet hot dogs were also seen on the popular TV show "The Simpsons" as the dessert that almost won Marge Simpson a blue ribbon in a baking competition. Marge's dessert dog recipe uses deep-fried cookie dough for the hot dog, meringue for the bun, homemade cherry sauce for ketchup, and caramel for mustard. As Marge entered her "dessert dogs" into Auntie Ovenfresh Bakeoff, she triggered a wave of interest in the quirky deserts and introduced different options for making a variety of offbeat and eye-catching dessert hot dogs.