I Tried The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Dirt Bombs Muffin Recipe
It’s much better than a dark chocolate mirror glaze cake.
The way to Belly’s heart is through her stomach, and Conrad Fisher knows that. While Jeremiah Fisher is getting his bride-to-be candle-like Swedish Fish, store-bought desserts, and demanding a $750 dark chocolate wedding cake with mirror glaze, Conrad is picking up Sour Patch Kids and whipping up baked goods for his first love.
In Season 3, Episode 4 of The Summer I Turned Pretty, it’s revealed that along with studying to become a doctor in California, Conrad picked up some skills in the kitchen. And for Belly’s birthday, he makes homemade dirt bombs, aka cinnamon sugar muffins. After watching the episode and seeing the delicious treats on my screen, I immediately went online to find a recipe. The first I found was from TikToker @xo.cinthia, which calls for the following ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk
To make the muffins, start by combining your flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cardamom. In a separate large mixing bowl, beat the room temperature butter and egg together before adding in half the dry mix. Once that’s fluffy, add in your vanilla extract and warm milk until it’s smooth. Finish off with the rest of the dry mix, and preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Make sure to spray your muffin tin, and add in your mix to each cup. The recipe made just enough batter for me to get 12 dirt bombs.
As your muffins bake for 18 to 20 minutes, heat up a stick of unsalted butter in one bowl and mix together 3/4 cup of sugar and 1.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon in another bowl. Then, after letting your muffins cool for about five minutes out of the oven, dip the top of each dirt bomb in the melted butter before coating in the cinnamon sugar mix. This gives your muffins the “dirty” look on top.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Dirt Bombs Are So Red-Coded
The combination of nutmeg, cardamom, and cinnamon spices smell so much like fall. Even mixing the batter together reminded me of Taylor Swift’s chai cookies, and made me want to listen to Red, aka her most autumnal record. This seasonal connection is very fitting considering the album’s title track plays during the Season 3 trailer when Belly sees Conrad for the first time, and many fans have pointed out that Swift’s fourth album is representative of Bonrad’s relationship. Since the dirt bombs feel very Red-coded in flavor, they match Conrad and Belly perfectly.
The cinnamon sugar treat is sweet, fluffy, and had me wanting more — just like I’m begging for extra Bonrad scenes this season. It tastes like a baked cinnamon donut, goes well with your morning coffee, and was so easy to make. I made these on Sunday, and now have breakfast for the rest of the week. I don’t even need Conrad to leave out cereal and a bowl of fruit, like he does for Belly in Episode 5, because I’m all set.
Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised that Jenny Han included a delicious treat into her love story. The writer and creator of The Summer I Turned Pretty also threw in some delicious desserts to her other series, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I even made Lara Jean’s cherry turnovers that she makes for Peter Kavinsky. (FYI: they’re delicious.)
Similar to Belly being won over by Conrad’s baked goods, Han wins me over whenever her stories include a little treat to make at home (like pomegranate margaritas). If only I had some fresh peaches from a stand on the side of the road to go with these dirt bombs.
