Corn Dog Muffins!

Laura (2 yrs old) has been becoming more and more picky.   She doesn't like any fruits, and eats very few vegetables.  I have started trying to figure out ways to 'hide' fruits and veggies.  Since she loves bread, and has been known to eat the occasional corn dog (and Aldi's had packs of hot dogs for a dollar) , I decided to make a homemade corn dog muffin.



First, prepared a cornbread batter.  I used a recipe from Crieve Hall Cooks a book made by the ladies of  Crieve  Hall Church of Christ.  My mother-in-law used to go to this church, and gave me this cookbook.
Here is the original recipe, but I do a couple of things differently for the muffins.  First,  I mix all my wet ingredients first in the bowl, to keep from having to use two bowls.  Also, since we are cooking this in muffin tins, instead of a cast iron skillet, I melted the bacon drippings in the microwave and added it to the batter.  I did NOT preheat my muffin tin.  Remember, we are using this recipe more or less just to get the batter.

Aunt Baddie's Cornbread

1/4 cup bacon drippings (or oil)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk

Put bacon drippings in cast iron skillet.  Preheat skillet  in 400 degree oven until drippings are melted.  Combine dry ingredients.  In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients.  Add to dry mixture with bacon drippings; mix well.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.




Since the object of this is to get more veggies into Laura, I added about 1/2 cup of leftover corn to the batter. Since she ate this so well, I may try to add some finely grated carrot as well next time.


I greased my muffin tin with shortening, and added the batter (about 2/3 full for each muffin).  Then, I took two hot dogs, and cut each one into 6 pieces and dropped one piece into the center of each muffin.  Press it down lightly into the batter.  Once your oven is preheated (to 400, like the recipe), just pop them in the oven on a lower rack until they start to brown on top.  They took about 20 minutes.

This recipe made 12 corn dog muffins.  As you can see, by the time I could grab my camera, I only had 6 left!  I think that's safe to say they were a hit.  Laura ate three,  Mark had two, and I tried one.  Laura called them "hot dog birthday cakes" (I suppose since she thought they looked like cupcakes).   I put the leftovers in the fridge, since they have meat inside, and will have a ready snack for Laura for the next couple of days!

This recipe was really easy and cheap.  One pack of hot dogs cost one dollar, and I used two out of the pack.  So, twenty cents for the dogs, and probably another dollar in the other ingredients.   $1.20 for twelve corn dog muffins definately beats $4.00 for some frozen corn dogs at the store (plus there is corn hidden in mine) I will definitely be making these again, and trying to hide another veggie or two inside.

Categories: baking, corn, corn dogs, hot dogs, leftover corn, muffins, picky eater, using leftovers, vegetables