Meatloaf Cupcakes?

I have seen the idea of creating faux cupcakes in the media for a long time now.  So, it wasn't a big deal when I suggested my husband make meatloaf cupcakes for dinner one night while I was traveling to a conference.  We figured this might encourage our newly picky three-year-old to eat her dinner. 

While it didn't exactly motivate her to move fork to mouth, it did cause her to smile.  She picked at her food a bit more than usual which was definitely a plus.  My visiting mother, along with the rest of the family, loved it!  We will try this again.

So, meatloaf cupcakes?  You can use whatever meatloaf recipe you happen to love.  Mix up a batch then distribute evenly across a muffin tin.  Be sure to spray the cups with cooking spray.  Cook according to directions. 

Prepare a batch of mashed potatoes and cook some peas while waiting for the meatloaf.  When everything is ready, the plating fun begins!  You could pipe the mashed potatoes onto the "cupcakes" so it looks more like "frosting" but we were a bit impatient and just added a glop on top.  Then, add the pea "sprinkles."  An absolutely adorable dish!

My favorite meatloaf recipe is Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf with Brown Sugar Ketchup Glaze from Cook's Illustrated but my husband used this recipe from Betty Crocker.  It was pretty great too!

Enjoy!