Corn dogs and clothespins are both kind of nostalgic. And before I had a chance to post the recipe for some Corn Dog Muffins I had made, a friend and I found some quaint old wooden clothespins at an antique store in Eureka Springs this past weekend…so I just had to post a picture of those, too!

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these, but they brought back memories of my mom hanging out the laundry in our backyard with her wooden clothespins, and seeing the clothes drying in the summer breeze and sunshine. It seems like eons ago now. These clothespins almost seem kind of primitive in today’s world with all our high-tech gadgets. How fast things change!

Now back to the Corn Dog Muffins…

You might be asking, “Why Corn Dog Muffins?” Well, for some reason, corn dogs remind me of fall. I think it’s because they’re often sold at the craft shows and fairs that happen so often this time of year. So I had corn dogs on my mind! I had seen some recipes for corn dog muffins, so I thought I’d give them a try.

I tried making these a few times. The first time, I made them with a cornbread batter that had cheese and honey in it, but those stuck to my paper muffin liners really badly and you couldn’t even taste the cheese in the muffins. So I tried another batter and omitted the cheese…and I like the taste of these muffins much better. The batter is actually a cornbread recipe I found on Allrecipes.com and I added in some Hillshire Farm® Lit’l Smokies® sausages instead of hot dogs…but you could use hot dogs instead if you want. These muffins would be good for breakfast or brunch or even for a snack, and this recipe makes about 17 muffins.

CORN DOG MUFFINS by NancyCreative, adapted from AllRecipes.com

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (14-oz.) package Lit’l Smokies® sausages, divided (set aside 17 sausage links, 1 for each muffin. (Note: if you want to use hot dogs instead, chop up enough hot dogs into small chunks to fill up 2 to 2 1/2 cups)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In medium bowl, combine melted butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until well-blended. Add buttermilk, blending well. Then stir in baking soda, cornmeal, flour, and salt and mix until well-blended. Set aside 17 of the Lit’l Smokies® sausages; chop the remaining sausages into small chunks and mix into the cornbread batter. Fill muffin cups almost 3/4 full with batter, then add a Lit’l Smokies® link on top of each one (Note: if you don’t want quite so much sausage in your muffins, just use the one unchopped sausage link and place on the top of each cup of muffin batter; you’ll probably get about 14 muffins if you do this). If using chopped hot dogs, mix your small chunks into the batter and fill each muffin cup 3/4 full; you won’t need to put anything on top. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool about 5 minutes and remove from pan. Serve warm.

Here’s what the muffins will look like before you put them in the oven…

I was hoping the little sausages would stay at the top as they baked, but they sunk into the batter. But it does make a nice surprise when you bite into the muffin and find the tasty sausage link and chopped bits of sausage inside!

These are best served warm!

Linked to Sunday Showcase, Potluck Sunday, Motivate Me Monday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tasty Tuesday, Show and Tell, We Did It! Wednesday, Make It Yours Day, Strut Your Stuff, Favorite Things Friday, Frugalicious Friday, I’m Lovin’ It Friday, Favorite Things Saturday.