Friday: Pizza Muffins- "Breakfast" for dinner

I've mentioned before how much I like using muffin tins to make a fun meal.  These sounded just too good not to try.  I mean...it says pizza, how bad can they be?  Quick and easy to make and the bonus is that they are full of veggies.  (shhh...don't tell your kids!)  ;)  A nice salad would be fun to have with these.  Or for a more breakfast feel, some sausage links or even a fried egg.

(recipe adapted from Kayotic Kitchen)

Ingredients:  

2 cups flour
4 tbsp butter (melted)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/s tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp oregano
3 tbsp pizza sauce
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 bell pepper (yellow, red, green, your pick)
3 to 4oz ham
1 cup cheese (mozz, gouda, cheddar...have fun with it!)
2 shallots
2 eggs

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 

Finely mince half to 1 bell pepper and 2 shallots. Lightly sautee the bell pepper and shallots in a tiny drop of olive oil.

I like using my food processor for this. It speeds things up! Pour 2 cups of flour in there.

Add 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp onion powder, a heaping 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried oregano and 1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder. 

Pop the lid on and pulse a few times to combine everything.

Grab a bowl and mix up 1 cup of yogurt with 4 tbsp butter. The yogurt will make it fluffy and light.

Break two eggs over it and lightly whisk until it’s all combined. 

Pour it in the food processor, right on top of the flour mix.

Add the sauteed vegetable mix, 1 cup of cheese and 3 heaping tbsp pizza sauce. 

Mix until everything has properly blended and you end up with a consistency that looks like a fairly thick batter.

Chop about 3 to 4oz ham, you can also do this with chorizo. Add to the batter and pulse a few more times. Just a few spins to get it combined, you don’t want to puree the ham. The batter will be even thicker now.

Lightly butter the muffin tin (or you can use ramekins). Spoon the batter in, but don’t fill them up completely, the muffins will need a little room to rise.

Put them in a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and they’re golden brown. The muffins will rise, but not as high as ‘sweet’ muffins and the outside will be crispier.  They’re best eaten lukewarm.