Big ‘Ole Hawaiian Pizza Muffins

One of my favorite things on the planet is pizza.  It’s probably just the bread and cheese combo that gets me.  I don’t eat it often and don’t like just any pizza but I love really good pizza.  And I love making pizza from scratch with whole wheat dough so I feel a little bit better about eating it.  It‘s not surprising that my 4 year old son loves pizza too.   Doesn’t every kid?  Whenever we have leftover homemade pizza from the night before, I always give him some in his lunchbox and it’s one of his favorites.  But he comes home with sauce all over him and I’m sure the teachers are cursing my name.  So I wanted to figure out a way to give him something special that he loves without having it be so messy.

Making things in different sized muffin tins is always a great way to have a single portion of something otherwise large and messy.  I do it with macaroni and cheese and quiches for cocktail parties, fritattas for brunch, it works great with pies too, both sweet and savory.  I know you can make individual pizzas in jumbo muffin tins, but I still thought that would be too messy.

This recipe is like part muffin, part fritatta, and all pizza. It really tastes and smells just like pizza!  I’ve seen a lot of versions of something like this online but none of them sounded cheesy, moist or filling-y enough for me, so I decided to make my own.  I went with Hawaiian ones today, because it’s one of my son’s favorite and it’s just what I happened to have on hand.  But you could do this with any flavor combination you like.  I didn’t put the sauce inside because I didn’t think it would work, but maybe you will and you will love it.

I use whole wheat flour whenever I can in my cooking and did here.  I also like to use a low fat cheese whenever I think the flavor won’t be compromised.  I have no problem using a light mozzarella for pizza, and think the flavor and texture is perfectly fine.  But I refuse to use a light cheddar when I’m looking for that extra sharp taste.  They actually don’t even make a low fat, extra sharp cheddar.  So I say go light when it doesn’t matter but go full-fat when it does.

I made these in the jumbo sized muffin tins because I wanted a lunch sized portion, but I think making them in the mini sized tins would be awesome for a party….Super Bowl maybe?  Mmmm…I’m now thinking how awesome it would be to have a ‘Supreme’ style mini pizza puff.  But for now, I have these big ‘ole Hawaiian Pizza Puffs that are gonna make my little man big ‘ole happy.

Enjoy!

*Hawaiian Pizza Puffs

(These are fairly delicate in texture due to the fact that the recipe only calls for 3/4 cup of flour, so be very careful when taking them out of the pan…I got a little too excited and lost a couple bottoms in the tins.)

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 cup shredded light mozzarella
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar
1/2 cup shredded or finely chopped pineapple
1 cup or 8 oz cubed turkey or ham
————————————————————————————————
-In a large mixing bowl stir together your flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
-In another mixing/measuring bowl/cup, measure out your milk and then beat your eggs into the cup. Pour into your dry ingredients and mix well.
-Fold in your shredded cheeses, meat, and pineapple.
-Pour* your batter into greased jumbo muffin tins (6 count), or whichever size you choose to use.
-Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes**, or until the tops are golden brown and they have begun to pull away from the edges of the tins.
-Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before carefully removing and cooling completely on a rack.
-Serve with your favorite marinara sauce.

(*note-I like to use a large, greased ice cream scoop when dealing with batter and muffin tins.  It ensures that you will have an even amount of batter in each cup.  I was able to fill each cup a little more than 3/4 of the way full, with no batter leftover.)

(**another note-If you’re making these in the smaller sized tins, I say check them after 10 minutes in the oven.)