M&M Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

Small and sweet, these M&M mini muffins are the perfect little bite for brunch, snack or tea time. Watch 24 disappear in no time at all! 

Last month, we hosted a small brunch for our former neighbors who moved last summer. They only moved six blocks away, which seems like nothing in the greater scheme of things but with everyone’s busy lives, we rarely get to see them unless we put something on the calendar. 

I made these muffins along with a crushed pineapple carrot quick bread, cheesy scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and fruit salad. It was lovely to catch up with them and the mini muffins were a hit with their adorable soon-to-be four-year-old, as I was hoping they would be.

You may notice that my M&M baking bits are missing the reds and greens. That is because I needed them to bake Christmas cookies to donate for a senior citizen Christmas party in our neighborhood last year. I couldn’t be bothered to drive to the store so I sat and separated them. The things I'll do to avoid yet another trip to the store!

M&M Mini Muffins

If you don’t have M&M baking bits, you can substitute mini chocolate chips. Or chop a chocolate bar up in pieces. Definitely don't drive to the store just for baking bits. 🤣 🙄

Ingredients for 24 mini muffins:

1 cup or 125g flour

1/4 cup or 50g sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup or 75g plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

2 tablespoons canola or other light oil, plus extra for greasing the pan

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/2 cup or 85g M&M baking bits

Method

Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare your mini muffin pan by lining it with little paper muffin cups or brushing the inside with oil. 

In large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

In smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, milk, oil and vanilla extract.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient and fold until just combined then fold in the baking bits.

Divide the batter between your prepared mini muffin cups. 

Bake in the preheated oven about 15-18 minutes or until the muffins are nicely browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Leave them to cool for a few minutes then remove them from the pan and cool on a wire rack. 

Enjoy!

It's the last Monday of the month so that means it's Muffin Monday. Time to share muffin recipes! Check out the links below: 

• Blueberry Orange Muffins (egg free) from A Messy Kitchen
• M&M Mini Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Tahini Coconut Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Shrimp Pasta Primavera

This simple shrimp pasta primavera uses a mix of spring vegetables including asparagus, sugar snap peas, garden peas and spring onions. It’s a celebration of the season!

When we lived in Southeast Asia, the only asparagus we got in our local grocery stores was quite thin but they won my asparagus hating husband over. Turns out he had only ever been offered canned asparagus as a child and thought they were nasty. 

Fresh asparagus are completely different! In the States and in Jersey, Channel Islands, the asparagus are typically thick. The husband was unsure again but I’ve gradually won him over, especially when I cook them simply with a little butter and lemon. Or in a pasta dish like this Shrimp Pasta Primavera. 

Shrimp Pasta Primavera

If using fresh pasta instead of dried, cook 12 oz or 340g to serve four people. Regarding the peas: I prefer the frozen peas called petit pois because they are young and more tender, if you can find them. Do not, for love of all that is holy, use canned peas. This recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking. 

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus plenty extra for the pasta boiling water

Freshly ground black pepper, more as needed

5 1/3 oz or 150g sugar snap peas

8 oz or 226g asparagus, ends snapped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup or 23g thinly sliced green onion, white part only

10 oz or 285g peeled, cleaned shrimp

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

9 oz or 255g fettuccine or tagliatelle

2/3 cup or 60g grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, at room temperature

1/2 cup or 123g crème fraîche or sub whole milk Greek yogurt, at room temperature

1 tablespoon finely chopped tarragon

3/4 cup or 113g frozen young peas, thawed

(To thaw the peas and cook them just enough at the same time, pour boiling water over them. When cool, drain the water and repeat. Drain again when cool and the peas are ready to add in at the end of the recipe.)

Optional garnish: tender pea sprouts

Method

Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil over medium-high heat.

While the water is coming to a boil, string and slice snap peas diagonally.

Trim the asparagus tips off, leaving them whole. Slice the asparagus stems into ¼-inch-thick lengths, also on the diagonal. 

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add snap peas, asparagus and green onions. 

Cook until the vegetables just start to soften, then add the shrimp. 

Cook for 3-4 minutes until the shrimp are pink throughout. 

Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute more. 

Season with the salt and a few generous grinds of black pepper; set aside.

Drop the pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente (1 to 3 minutes for fresh pasta, according to the manufacturer’s instructions for dried pasta.)

Drain well and transfer pasta to a large bowl. Immediately toss the pasta with the shrimp and vegetables. Mix well. 

Add in the Parmigiano-Reggiano, crème fraiche, tarragon and peas and stir well. 

Season generously with more salt and pepper, if needed.

Return to your warm pasta pot, garnish with pea sprouts, if using, and serve immediately.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and since spring has sprung, we are sharing recipes with asparagus and I am hosting! Check out all the links below. 

• Asparagus Farro from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Asparagus Three Ways from Our Good Life
• Macaroni and Cheese with Asparagus and Prosciutto from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Shrimp Pasta Primavera from Food Lust People Love
• Spring Risotto Topped with Shaved Asparagus from Culinary Cam
• Stir Fried Chickpeas and Asparagus from Amy's Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Fresh Cherry Ice Cream

This fresh cherry ice cream is made with ripe cherries, sugar and whipped cream. So easy and delicious, no churning required. Gin optional! The flavor of my favorite summer fruit shines through. 

I have so many favorite summer fruits that it really is hard to choose just one but fresh cherries are definitely in my top three, along with figs and watermelon. You just can’t buy cherries or figs any other time where I live and watermelon grown out of season or imported is usually not very sweet, which is always disappointing. 

Last summer I got lucky though because I came across whole boxes of cherries at a discounted price and we ate like cherry kings for almost two weeks. Most of them were eaten straight from the box but the rest were turned into muffins, jam, tarts and, finally, this very ice cream. 

Fresh Cherry Ice Cream

If you don’t have fresh cherries, I’d substitute frozen ones but make sure to pit them if they aren’t already pitted. And doublecheck that the pitting process didn’t miss any pits if they are. Nothing will break a tooth faster than biting down on a hard cherry pit when you weren’t expecting one! 

Ingredients

12.5 oz or 354g cherries

1 cup or 240ml water

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

1 2/3 cups or 393ml whipping cream

Optional: 2 tablespoons gin – I used strawberry infused gin for more fruity flavor 

Method

Pit the cherries. Chop them roughly (which helps to check for pits you might have missed!) and set aside a few for garnish for when you are freezing the ice cream later. 

Pulse the cherries briefly in a food processor. You want small chunks, NOT puree. 

In a pot large enough to hold the cherry chunks, dissolve the sugar in the water over a medium high heat and then heat to boiling.

Add in the cherries.

Cook until the liquid is reduced by about half and the temperature just reaches 220°F or 104°C. This could take as many as 20-25 minutes.

Remove the cherries from the heat and transfer them to another vessel to cool. 

Once they are cool, whip the cream to soft peaks. 

Gently fold a couple of spoonsful of the cream into the cooled cherries.

Then fold the cherries and cream into the rest of the cream. 

Gently does it! You don’t want to deflate the air in the whipped cream. 

Add the gin, if using, and fold again. This isn’t essential but I think it makes the ice cream easier to scoop and serve. 

Spoon the ice cream into a freezer friendly container with a lid. Top with the reserved chopped cherries then cover and freeze until set. 

Remove from the freezer 15-20 minutes before you want to serve it. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 9th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter I. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the I recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Instant Urad Dal Flour & Rava Medhu Vadas 
• Blogghetti: Italian Chopped Salad 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Ice Apple Salad 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Ice Cream Wafflewiches 
• Food Lust People Love: Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Italian Ice 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Iced Gems 
• A Messy Kitchen: Irish Colcannon Mac and Cheese 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Sun-Dried Tomato & Kale Italian Pasta Salad 
• Culinary Cam: Es Teler (Indonesian Drunk Ice)

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream – this post!

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Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

Simple to make, chewy and delicious, these banana peanut butter cookies are perfect with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot tea. They'd be great for breakfast too! 

I give the actual recipe I used for the cookies in my photos but I have made these many times. What I discovered is that no banana is exactly the same weight you need. 

Based on the original ingredients for one batch of 16, here are the instructions to personalize the recipe according to the weight of your bananas. You need a kitchen scale. 

Simply peel your very ripe bananas and weigh them in grams. Divide the number of grams by 75. Now times that result by 160. That is how many grams of peanut butter you need for your weight of bananas. Times that banana number by 31 to figure out how much flour you need. Easy! 

Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

I tried this recipe with natural peanut butter without sugar and even with a very ripe banana, the cookies just weren’t sweet enough. Use your favorite peanut butter that does have sugar added. I like Jif.

Ingredients for 16 cookies

1/3 cup or 75g very ripe banana

1/2 cup, rounded, or 160g smooth peanut butter (with sugar)

1/4 cup or 31g flour

Powdered sugar for pressing with fork

Sugar for sprinkling, if desired.

Method

Preheat your oven to 350° or 180°C and line a baking pan with a silicone liner or baking parchment. 

In a mixing bowl, whisk the ripe banana until smooth. 

Add in the peanut butter and flour and mix thoroughly. 

Use tablespoon to apportion into cookies. 

Roll into balls.

Dip the tines of your fork into powdered sugar and press down in a cross pattern. 

Sprinkle with more sugar for decoration, if desired.

Bake in your preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. 

Remove the cookies from the oven and leave to cool. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are celebrating National Tea Day. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam who encouraged us to share our favorite recipes that use tea as an ingredient or anything you would serve at a tea party. Check out the links below. 

• Banana Peanut Butter Cookies by Food Lust People Love
• Caramel Apple Tea Rub for Pork by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chamomile Spring Veggie Chowder by Culinary Cam
• Veggie Mini Vol-au-Vents by Sneha's Recipe

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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