pizza in a muffin

Lesson learned in the kitchen.... never ever, I said never prepare pizza muffins in muffin papers, I thought it would be cute, but they simply stick to the paper and become non-edible, which was a torture because they were soo delicious... and then I decided to prepared a second batch, which turned out just fine :)))

The idea for pizza muffins has been always in my mind whenever I felt like eating pizza, then finally I decided to prepare them and what started as a nightmarish experience turned out a valuable lesson and a batch of very delicious breakfast/lunch/dinner muffin (really I could eat them for every meal) treats.

Pizza muffins

Ingredients

(adapted from Kayotic Kitchen)

2 cups all purpose flour

5-6 tbsp melted butter

1 cup yoghurt

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sweet red pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

3 tbsp tomato sauce

2 eggs

20 baby mozzarellas

70g chopped olives

sunflower seeds for sprinkling

The flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, oregano and basil are mixed in a bowl into a homogeneous mixture. In another bowl - yoghurt, butter, tomato sauce and the eggs are beaten into a smooth cream. Then a well is formed in the centre of the flour mixture and the liquid ingredients are poured at once and stirred until a smooth and thick dough is formed. Time for the pizza toppings: baby mozzarellas chopped into quarters as well as the olives are incorporated in the dough. The muffin cups (of a tray or individual) are greased as well (butter or olive oil), so that we prevent sticking to the edges.

The muffin cups are filled till 2/3 of the cup volume and sprinkled with sunflower seeds (or any other seeds) and the muffins are baked around 20mins (or until golden) in a pre-heated at 200C oven. Then they are left to slightly cool off and can be taken out easily from the cups (that is why it is important to grease it well).  One of the great things is that the mozzarella is melting and "breathing" in the oven in the process of baking :)

They have the pizza spirit, have the great taste of all ingredients and still manage to be compact and easy to carry around as an afternoon snack after a walk in the park! :)