Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
 
Every Friday night for years, my parents played cards with the next door neighbors, the Snow’s. During those years(late 1960’s), we established a ritual where the parents played cards at one house, and the kids would hang out at the other house, eat treats and watch “Nightmare Theater”- a local Seattle weekend show hosted by a vampire “The Count” (who looked nothing like Edward Cullen). Nightmare Theater double featured scary movies like “The Thing” and “The Screaming Skull”. Every Friday night. Doesn’t that sound like fun? No wonder I won’t watch anything scary as an adult.

The food: Totino’s Pizza Rolls and boxed brownies. Serious. I LOVED this stuff. I have no logical explanation for this behavior. Totino’s Pizza Rolls? I know. What can I say? I haven’t had one of those for years, but I did have a serious love for those little greasy hot pockets of melted cheese, sauce and itty-bitty pepperoni pellets. Yes, the pepperoni looks like pellets (see photo left).
Enough about my food indiscretions. The SRC blog I was assigned this month is Lean Green Bean. Lindsay, the blog author lives in Ohio and studying to become a Registered Dietitian. She loves to cook and bake, is married and has a page on her blog devoted to her “furry family” (two dogs and two cats ).
When I saw her recipe for Pepperoni Pizza Puffs, I had a flood of Friday night childhood memories and knew I had to give them a try.
Jake loved these, and inhaled almost the whole tray himself. I subbed home made pizza sauce for canned, since it takes about a minute to whip up. Perfect appetizer for a casual party (football games) or kid gathering.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

5 from 1 vote
Author: Si Foster
Servings: 24 mini puffs
Inspired by Lean Green Bean

Ingredients 

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup pepperoni, cut into small cubes

Homemade Pizza Sauce:

  • 1 cup tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil, divided
  • Dash of hot pepper sauce
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Whisk in milk and egg.
  • Stir in mozzarella and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.
  • Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups.
  • Bake until puffed and golden, 20 minutes.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together all Homemade Pizza Sauce ingredients.
  • Microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through, then stir in half of the basil. Sprinkle the pizza puffs with the remaining basil.
  • Serve the pizza puffs with pizza sauce for dipping.

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Pepperoni Pizza Puffs