Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Recipe source:  cassiecraves.blogspot.com

Russell has been super busy getting ready for his exam coming up in June, so he hasn't been able to make it home for dinner lately.  Usually when he eats with us, I love trying new recipes and some oldies and favorites.  Sometimes that means the kids don't care for what we're eating.  Sometimes they are hungry enough to try what we are having and are so surprised when they actually like it!  Since Russell isn't around for dinnertime right now, I have been trying some new kid-friendly recipes out on the kiddos.  Tonight we tried these pepperoni pizza puffs.  They are basically mini pizza muffins.  I don't know about your kids, but mine love to dip things, so they liked having these to dip in pizza sauce.  They turned out really yummy, everybody ate, and everyone was happy. :-) 

Of course, you can mix in whatever pizza toppings your family prefers, but we were safe and stuck with pepperoni.  I doubled the recipe and did one tray with those cute little baby pepperonis and one tray with chopped turkey pepperoni to be calorie-conscious.  Both were delicious.  Pair these cute muffins with whatever fruits and veggies you can get your kids to eat, and you've got a great kid meal.  My kids love fruit salad.  TOTALLY EASY and delicious.  Chop one apple, one banana, and 5-6 strawberries and mix with
1/2-1 cup of strawberry yogurt.  YUMMY.


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 (or whatever you've got. I used a monterey jack/colby blend.)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup mini pepperoni rounds (or 1 cup cubed pepperoni)
1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce (I used a jar of spaghetti 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.