Much like you, I have spent much of my life obsessed with the idea of the savory muffin - a food with a name that invokes so much possibility [1] but which inevitably ends in a dry oniony disappointment [2]. For several years now, I've been exploring the possibility of meat muffins but I've never been able to find what I've been looking for [3]
Until now.
A local cafe, hidden in an industrial zone near my daughter's ballet class, serves a risotto and chorizo timbale baked in a muffin tray and wrapped in baking paper [4]. I assumed that the word timbale completely described this heavenly dish, but a quick Google search reveals that there is an incredible world of shaped baked pasta and risottos that I was previous unaware of.
I worry constantly that I'll die not knowing everything, and a discovery of this significance this late in life lends credence to my fears.
[1] See also: Corn bread.
[2] There's never enough cheese inside the muffin to be worth mentioning. Occasionally there's enough on top.
[3] Potato top pies are the closest flavour analog I can find.
[4] They also do an amazing prosciutto, egg and caramelized onion cheese cake with the prosciutto forming the base of the cake.