Friday, May 14, 2010

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs


Oh, man, you guys, today’s recipe is a really good one. I can’t wait to make these again, as a matter of fact. If I had another mini-muffin pan, I would double the recipe. In fact, I may go buy another mini-muffin pan just for that purpose.

These are basically little pizza muffins. And they’re delicious, and a fun dinner alternative to a traditional pizza. Andrew loved them because he could dip them. Joe loved them because pizza is his favorite food in the world, and I loved them just because they were so darn good! They’re addictive, too -- I dare you to eat just five.

Because it seems like I can never follow a recipe exactly as it’s written, I did make a couple of modifications. I added pizza seasoning and parmesan cheese to the filling. But that’s what’s so great about this recipe -- you can change it up with whatever pizza toppings you prefer: green peppers, mushrooms, olives, onions, sausage, all of the above. Even ham and pineapple would be delicious if you prefer Hawaiian pizza. My family, though -- we’re pretty simple. Give us cheese and pepperoni, and we’re happy.

And we were VERY happy eating these.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
source: seen on Home Cooking with Sonya and adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray, April 2010
3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon pizza seasoning
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package mini pepperoni rounds (or 1 cup cubed pepperoni)
1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and pizza seasoning; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, parmesan and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

2. Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

12 comments:

Linda said...

Oh wow do these look amazing. What a nifty alternative to making a regular pizza. This is going on the list to try for sure.. And so much better for you than the store bought alternative mini bite sized pizza snacks.

Thanks for this!

Sonya said...

I add the pizza seasoning too..I think it really needs it..Im going to add some parma cheese too next time. I made them the other day with ham and pineapple..that was really good too!

Kat said...

This is such a great recipe! I am totally saving this one!

Julie said...

I'm pretty sure there's no way I could eat just 5!

Monica H said...

YuM! I love me some pepperoni pizza and I'm quite sure I'd love these too. Good call on adding parm and pizza seasoning. I'm going to have to make these soon!

Monica H said...

I've got these in the oven! I took your suggestion and added the parm and the italian seasoning, I also added a pinch of kosher salt. I couldn't fit all the batter in the mini muffin tin so I made a big pizza cupcake with the rest :-) I'll let you know how we like 'em.

Monica

Ellen Zames said...

Love this recipe....just posted it to my blog and linked back to you. Very yummy. We're trying bacon corn cheddar puffs now with the same batter.

http://everydaysisters.blogspot.com

Love your blog

Ellen

Gina said...

Does anyone have any advice on how to get the pizza puffs to not stick to the pan? I took them out of the oven and could not get them out of the pan :( I had to scoop them out with a spoon! I greased it the muffin pan with canola oil and it still did not work. Thanks!
p.s. they were delicious though! :)

Cassie said...

Hi Gina! I'm sorry you're having issues with the puffs sticking. I always spray my mini muffin tins very well with cooking spray, so maybe that would help? I'm not sure. But I'm really glad you liked them! :)

Debra and Eric said...

I made this tonight for my family. Here's how it came out...

Substitutions: I used 1/2 c whole wheat flour, and 1/4 white flour, I used Italian seasoning instead of "pizza seasoning", I used 1% milk instead of whole, and used a 3.15oz pkg of pepperoni.

I doubled the recipe, but only had 1 pkg of pepperoni. Mistake. Next time I'll make sure I have enough meat, or add enough "extras" to compensate for lack of topping. Overall flavor was good though. The doubled recipe filled my larger-than-"mini" 24 muffin tin pan plus another 12 hole mini muffin tin.

I think yummy "toppings" to add could be any pizza topping: lightly sauteed green peppers, minced olives, minced pineapple, crumbled sausage, or anything else you enjoy on pizza!

Thanks for the recipe idea, I'll be tweaking this along to find something that works out! And, btw, I used a cooking spray also to coat the tins and the puffs slid out very nicely.

Allie said...

I made it just how the recipe was written (only doubled it for my family of 6) and there was not one left! Awesome recipe for my picky eaters!

Allison said...

We had these for the Super Bowl last night and they were really yummy! I'm now trying to figure out what else I could put into them... :)