Corn Dog Muffins

Everyone was hungry but it was so hot nothing sounded good to anyone and worse yet, food should already have been on the table--not just being planned.  Well, thown in a frozen pizza, but that can't always be the answer in this situation.  A suggestion finally came of hot dogs, baked beans, and potato chips.  Picnic-type food.  Good idea, but the good thing about being the "chef" is the veto power that can be wielded.....and the chef was not in the mood for baked beans.  For some reason this night something with hot dogs in it would be acceptable and appeasing the hot dog request was not out of the question, but the only things that came to "chef's" mind were flat out "not today".  What other things were there beyond hot dogs in baked beans or hot dogs in mac-and-cheese??  Neither of those were appealing to the chef's taste buds for the evening.  Hello, Google?!  There are some strange things out there.  There are some flat out disgusting sounding things out there.  There are some 'just throw a bunch of stuff on top of a hot dog' things out there. 
But then there was an interesting one that popped out, "Corn Dog Muffins".  Looked at that one and then Googled that phrase.  Of course there are tons of variations.  Settled on starting with the one below......although it was modified immediately as I wanted it to be more like having corn dogs than having corn muffins with some hot dog pieces.  Like I said, it was late so this was a rush job.  I cut each hot dog into fourths and put 2 pieces in each muffin tin--but in the rush I only ended up with batter for 16 muffins so ended up with 4 uncovered hot dog chunks so I cut the 4 remainder hot dog chunks into 4 pieces each and put one of those pieces in each of the muffins.
Yikes!  that explanation was a bit confusing!  Just divide the hot dogs up into the muffin tins :-) . 
It could be interesting to see what it would be like with slightly smaller chunks of hot dogs, but not this time.  I will mention.......be sure to grease muffin tins.  I used silicone tins and they still needed a little something.  Also, if they are left to sit a bit before digging them out of the tins they will stay together better than the first tray of them I dug into in the rush to feed the crew before they had to be in bed.  There are various add-ins I read of in just the couple of recipes I perused--cheddar cheese, canned green chillies, creamed corn instead of corn, garlic, diced onion, etc.  But getting "fancy" or kicking it up a few notches was not in the cards for this round.  I'd also like to try making my own corn muffins for this rather than a pre-fab box, but this was the exact scenerio that dictates having a couple boxes of corn muffin mix in the cupboard can really come in handy.  These would also be interesting to try as mini-muffins for little ones or for appetizers.
When all was said and done, although not the healthiest, but not the worst either, it was a quick meal that contained meat, bread and veggie and no one said "yucka". 
Oh, and don't tell anyone, those were "light" hot dogs in there.

Corn Dog Muffins

18 Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 packages (8-1/2 ounces each) corn bread/muffin mix
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 can (15 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
• 10 hot dogs, chopped, sliced, or in chunks

Directions

In a large bowl, combine corn bread mix and brown sugar.  Combine eggs and milk; stir into dry ingredients until moistened.  Stir in corn and hot dogs (batter will be thin).

(.......honestly, I didn't want some muffins with tons of hot dog and others with next to none so I threw the hot dogs in the muffin cups and topped with the batter)

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.  Bake at 400° for 14-18 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve immediately or refrigerate. 

Top with ketchup and/or mustard as desired.

Yield: 1-1/2 dozen.