Italian Cheese and Pancetta Mini-Muffins

By ChrisandAmy • December 12, 2010 • 4 Comments

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Author Notes: With the recent success of making gougeres, we made another attempt at creating a savory baking recipe. Once again, we used cheese (we love cheese in case you haven't noticed) and for added flavor, pancetta (just Italian bacon, and everything is better with bacon). We've been noshing on these mini-muffins ever since. They are definitely better warm, so eat them (almost) straight out of the oven and/or heat them up.

- ChrisandAmy

Makes 24 mini-muffins

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 ounces diced pancetta
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown the diced pancetta in a small skillet then set aside atop a paper towel to absorb the grease.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the cheese and mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and butter.
Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients, add the pancetta, and stir until well combined. The resulting batter will be thick and sticky.
Spray two mini-muffin pans with baking spray and fill each cup with the muffin batter (a melon baller does the job nicely).
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove immediately and serve warm.