Pizza Muffins

The title of the post itself is very catchy, especially to kids and adults who love pizza. That is what drew me to making these cheesy and delicious pizza muffins for this month's 'Home Baker's Challenge'. I've missed couple of challenges due to many reasons, but when I saw Priya's savory bakes and these pizza muffins, I had to bake them.

Both my kids love pizza, so this was an obvious choice for me. These muffins have all the flavors of a pizza -- basil, cheese and pizza sauce. You can add any vegetable that you like on your pizza to the batter to make the muffins taste just like your favorite pizza. My super picky son likes onions, tomatoes and corn (he recently added spinach to that list), so added some corn to the batter. I think the next time, I'm going to add some caramelized onions to give some more flavor to the muffins.

Original recipe used 4 egg whites, but I subbed that with some egg replacer whisked with water. Also if you don't have Greek yogurt, then simply use 1 cup regular plain yogurt. Serve these muffins with some extra pizza sauce on the side.

Recipe adapted from Chef in You's recipe:

Ingredients: Makes 12 muffins

All purpose flour - 1cup

Whole wheat flour - 1cup (or use 2 cups of all purpose flour)

Baking powder - 1tbsp
Baking Soda - ½tsp 

Salt - 1tsp
Dried Basil - 1tsp
Ground Pepper - ½tsp

Sugar - 2tbsp
Cheddar Cheese - 1cup, cubed

Eggs - 2 large (or use 2tbsp egg replacer whisked in 6tbsp water)

Greek Yogurt - ¾cup (whisked with ¼cup water or use 1cup regular plain yogurt)
Unsalted Butter - ¼cup, melted
Veggies of choice - ½cup (I used corn here, but veggies like onion, peppers, spinach etc. can also be used)
Pizza Sauce - ¼cup
Mozzarella cheese, ½cup, grated

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and lightly grease the cups with cooking spray.
• In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, basil and pepper. Whisk to combine.
• Stir in the cheese cubes.
• In a separate bowl, whisk yogurt, eggs (or egg replacer mixture) and melted butter until smooth.
• Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until there are no dry spots. The batter will be very thick. Add a couple tablespoons of water to loosen it, if desired.
• Stir in the veggies and mix well.
• Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Spoon 1tsp pizza sauce on top of each muffin and sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let muffin cool in pan at least 5 minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool completely.