Corn Dog Muffin Bites

Corn dogs are a delicious carnival/fair treat. The cornmeal batter usually surrounds a hot dog but the sausage choice may be varied, according to your personal preference. I’ve made them in the past and they were delicious. However, the skewered treat must be deep fried, and that’s pretty messy. Plus, there’s the clean-up afterwards. So, when I ran across this muffin bite variation, I was all over it.

Instead of hot dogs, I used cheese smoked sausages, similar to the Hungarian Debrecener.

I sliced the sausages into 3/4 inch/2 cm sections and inserted them into mini or medium sized muffin cups which had been well brushed with vegetable oil and filled half way with a slightly sweetened cornbread batter.

The muffins were baked at 375 deg Fahrenheit. The minis (2 tbsp of batter) took about 15-16 minutes to bake while the medium muffins (3 tbsp) took 20 minutes. I’m re-posting the plain cornbread recipe for convenience.

Plain Cornbread – 16 2-inch squares

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
2-4 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like it to be)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter, margarine or shortening

Stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together eggs, milk and oil. Add to flour mixture and stir just until batter is moistened, no more.

Pour into greased 9″ round cast iron skillet (or an 8 inch by 8 inch baking pan) and bake in a pre-heated oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Muffin Variation: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake mini muffins (2 tbsp batter) for 15-16 minutes. Medium or large muffins (3 tbsp batter) take 18-20 minutes.