Mini Corn Dog Muffins

The original recipe calls them Corn Dog Mini Muffins but for some reason Mini Corn Dog Muffins sounded better to me so that's what I have been calling them. 

Here is the link to the original recipe. (I'm trying to do this whenever possible now so that I know people are getting credit.)  http://happygoodtime.com/2012/02/01/corn-dog-mini-muffins/

Just so you know. If you couldn’t tell, you will need a mini muffin pan.

Ingredients:

§  1 package mini hot dogs or regular hot dogs cut into 1 inch pieces. Make sure you get fully cooked hotdogs or you cook them before hand. I also made some with veggie dogs so that they would be a vegetarian option.

For the cornbread mix:

§  1 cup all purpose flour

§  1 cup cornmeal

§  1 tablespoon baking powder

§  2 eggs

§  1 cup milk

§  1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (vegetable oil or butter as a substitution are fine)

§  1/4 cup sugar

§  1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

§  Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F

§  In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder

§  In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, milk, applesauce and sugar

§  Gently mix together wet and dry ingredients, stirring only to coat. Be careful not to over mix here or you will have tough, dry muffins. Just like with biscuits/scones the key is to be gentle with the batter. There will be small lumps in your batter, and that is perfectly fine.

§  Prepare your muffin tin by spraying liberally with cooking spray. If your pan has the tendency to stick, consider using mini muffin liners.

§  Using a tablespoon, fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Be sure not to fill all the way to the top.

§  Insert 1 hot dog piece into each muffin

§  Bake at 400 F in the center of your oven for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean

§  Remove from pan while still very warm to avoid over-cooking

Here is a little tip based on what I did. Since I was making these for a party that I had to travel close to an hour to and I didn’t want these little beauties to be cold by the time I got there, after I mixed the batter I put it in a zip top bag for travel. I also went ahead and cut all the hot dog and veggie dog pieces before I got on the road and put them in zip top baggies too (labeled meat and veggie of course). When I got to where I was going having the batter in a baggie really helped with filling the muffin pan. I just snipped the corner off and basically used it as a piping bag to fill each muffin space. When they were done I simply used two forks to pull each muffin out of the pan. And since this recipe makes 28 and my pan only holds 24 I had to make four more and put the pan back in the oven. But all the work was worth it because these little lovely are simply yummy. Serve with whatever you’d put on a corn dog. I stuck to ketchup and mustard even though most of the people eating them didn’t use any. They are just that good. Ha!

Yummy!!

---Dare to Cook---