Pizza Cupcakes

I often take lunch to my husband while he's at work, I like seeing him in the middle of the day. It's like a mini R&R until I get to see him at night. Yeah, I'm very attached to my husband when he's home and he describes me as 'clingy'. But in the same breath he says, "I love clingy." I was so fortunate to find someone who was so similar to myself, he's just as clingy as I am and as he's always deploying, whenever he's home we're practically inseparable.

Anyway, I was taking lunch to him a few weeks ago and stayed to eat with him. As he's walking me out of the shop another Marine stops us and we start talking about cupcakes. I'd taken his shop about 4 batches at this point and people were starting to make requests, and this guy had a request. Pizza cupcakes. Psh, are you kidding? Of course I can do that. He pulls out his wallet and hands me $15 for supplies. Sweet, no one's ever paid me before!


My husband gets this swagger in his step whenever he knows I'm showing up with cupcakes, he's totally proud of the fact that everyone clamors for my cupcakes and always asks when I'm making more and what they're going to be. To be honest, I love it. I love taking a Sunday, picking out what I'm going to wow them with next, and baking all day. It makes me feel accomplished and I feel good that I can provide them with these yummy treats to brighten an otherwise lame and busy day at work. So one Sunday a couple weeks ago, I tackled the pizza cupcakes. I didn't go off a recipe, I just worked it out in my head because it didn't seem that difficult. Pizza dough on the bottom, meat sauce and mozzarella in the middle, topped with pizza dough, cheese and mini pepperonis. $40 later and I had all my ingredients, so I set to work on the cupcakes/mini-pizzas while my husband worked on some paper crafting (don't ask, he's a nerd!) These turned out PERFECT! I mean, it's not hard to make but I'm always satisfied when things turn out how I want them to. And they were a huge hit, the guy who paid me told me he wants to start giving me money regularly so I can make him his own private stash that he doesn't have to share. Not a problem with me haha! So let's see them, cause who doesn't love pizza (except for those few people who don't like pizza...)?

What you'll need: 

2 tubes Pillsbury Pizza Crust

1 lb shredded mozzarella

Parmesan cheese

2 jars Chef Boyardee pizza sauce

1 lb hot sausage

1 bag mini pepperonis

Preparation:

Preheat oven to temperature specified on pizza crust tube.

1. Brown sausage in a skillet, then add pizza sauce and half the mini pepperonis. Mix well and set aside.

2. Roll out pizza dough and cut out circles for bottom and top of cupcakes (it will need to be large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the tin, and will need to be relatively thin because the crust will rise)

3. Line tins with the dough you just cut out, making sure to cover the bottom and sides.

4. Bake dough for about 8 minutes then remove from oven.

5. Put spoonful of meat sauce in center of each tin, then top with Parmesan and mozzarella.

6. Cover meat sauce with another circle of dough, tucking in along the sides of the cupcake tins so the dough bakes together.

7. Bake for about 12 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella and mini pepperonis, then bake for another 3 minutes or until the cheese melts.

8. Let cool then serve! I think they're best served warm, but if you like cold pizza you'll probably enjoy these cold as well.