Baked Hushpuppies

We are not huge seafood lovers in this family but I know it is good for us so I will make a seafood meal as often as I think my family will stand for it. Last night I made baked tilapia with a very light cracker crumb topping and baked shrimp with a garlic and butter / olive oil seasoning. Sounds good so far, right? So, then I decided that no seafood dinner is complete without hushpuppies on the side. Now, for those of you that have not been introduced to hushpuppies, there are tiny little morsels of cornbread with some seasonings added and deep fried until they are crispy on the outside and a tender little ball of seasoned cornbread on the inside. They are delicious and definately a must have if you are having a seafood meal. For some reason they just go hand in hand. Maybe it's just a southern thing.

Well, since I was trying to go a bit lighter on the calories with this meal I decided I would try baking my hushpuppies instead of frying them. I made up my hushpuppie batter and spooned  them into a mini muffin pan. As I said, hushpuppies are supposed to be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. To achieve that I first sprayed my mini muffin pan with cooking spray. I use Pam but any brand will do. Then I warmed the muffin pan in the oven for about 3 minutes. Then I spooned the batter into the muffin pan. Warming the pan first started the cooking process and the mini hushpuppies had a crispy crust. They turned out just as I expected. Beautiful. This was a great alternative to deep frying if you are trying to cut back on your calorie intake.

Baked Hushpuppies

1 box of cornbread mix ( prepare as directed on the box)

1 1/2 tablespoons of dried chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

Mix just until all ingredients are combined. Do not over mix. Spoon into the prepared mini muffin pan. Then bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Enjoy!