Carnival Corndog Bites (minus the guilt)

When I saw this idea on slashfood, I was really excited to try it. Corndogs without the frying, baked in muffin tins (preferably mini). I did a variety of veggie dogs, real franks, leftover beer brauts, and even a couple mushrooms. I didn't use slashfood's recipe because it involved a cornbread mix, and all I had was cornmeal. But the recipe on the cornmeal bag worked great, and I added an egg.

1 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup buttermilk (I substituted greek yogurt, worked fine)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 inch pieces of hot dog franks or veggies
optional add-ins: chopped peppers, tomatoes, herbs, go crazy! I used chile pequins, for a nice fruity burn.
My batter was pretty thick and I watered it down just a tad--maybe 2-3 tablespoons of water--in the hopes it would taste more like the batter on a carnival 'dog.

Then preheat the oven to 450, drop the filling in each muffin cup (nonstick sprayed), pour a 1/4 of cup of batter or less over the filling, and bake for 10 minutes. For better presentation, pour the batter first and stick the filling into it, that looks a lot more like a corndog.
Taste Tester is not immediately available for reviews, but I found I liked them best dipped in--what else?--plain ole mustard. Not the fancy type, but phosphorescent yellow ballpark mustard. It's a fun snack and really, not unhealthy!