mini muffin pan with 24 cups (If you have two pans, this recipe would be even faster to do and mid–recipe cleanup would be avoided.)
24 sandwich-sized pepperoni slices
24 pieces of fresh basil, plus some for garnish
1 cup pizza sauce
8 oz of fresh mozzarella, cut into ¾ inch pieces, about ¼ inch thick – or use pre-made balls.
sliced black olives
favorite seasoning: garlic powder, oregano, red chili pepper, etc.
Directions:
Heat oven at 400 degrees.
Cut each slice of pepperoni to create 4 – ½ inch cuts, from edge toward the center, but WITHOUT cutting the center. Make two cuts, top and bottom, then turn the cut to the top and bottom, so the center would remain but there would be 4 small cuts. This will allow you to put the pepperoni in a cup and it will fold nicely into a bowl shape.
Press cut pepperoni down into each muffin cup, forming 24 little bowls. Pop in oven for 4-5 minutes.
Remove from oven and let it cool for a minute or two. Then pull the pepperoni cups out and rest on paper towel to drain oil.
Clean oily muffin pan (or pull out a second clean one) and put pepperoni cups back into the muffin pan.
Put basil, then a teaspoon of sauce, a square (or ball) of mozzarella and olive. Bake for 3-5 minutes, watching them until the cheese melts.
Remove from oven and let them cool slightly. Season and add a fresh piece of basil for garnish. Using a spoon, pull each pizza out of the muffin tin and put on a serving plate!
You can get as creative on this as you can with a regular pizza.
Dr. Eric Berg
08/31/2023
