Like many millennials, I tune in every Wednesday to (rage-) watch The Summer I Turned Pretty. If you’re not, don’t ask me, or any of your 30-something-year-old friends for that matter, why. There are plenty of TikToks and articles speculating theories about the phenomenon. I’m simply in too deep, and must know if Belly Conklin (her first name is Isabela) chooses Conrad Fisher, an angsty young Leo look-alike prone to shutting people out, marries his brother and her fiancée Jeremiah (if you’re Team Jere, I don’t want to know), or if she ditches them both and studies abroad in Paris for her senior year (yes, she’s only in college). This season, the drama is wild — but the food content is absolutely unhinged.
There is, of course, the infamous roadside peach stand scene in which we are forced to endure (for over two minutes!) Belly eating the world’s juiciest peach while Conrad watches longingly. (The song “Wild Horses” is now forever ruined for me.) There’s Jeremiah, who tells Belly that a two-tiered mirror glaze cake with raspberry coulis is “his one thing,” budget be damned. But what really stuck with me is Conrad, who eats plain grilled chicken every single day — it’s the only thing he knows how to make — but also bakes up a perfect batch of “dirt bombs” as a belated birthday gesture for Belly.
What in the world are dirt bombs?! In the scene, they’re under a clear round cake cover, and based on what little we see of them, they don’t look particularly exciting. But the name was so ridiculous, I needed to know more. And after discovering that they are in fact a real thing — essentially buttery cinnamon sugar-coated muffins made famous by Bantam Bread Company in Connecticut — they sounded too delicious not to try.
How to Make Dirt Bombs
Search for “dirt bombs recipe” and a Summer I Turned Pretty Reddit thread comes up second. In it, a user shared the recipe Jenny Han (executive producer of the show and author of the book series) made with the two stars Lola Tung and Christopher Briney during promotion of the series.
The recipe is simple. Whisk together dry ingredients: a couple cups of flour, a half cup of sugar, some baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk with a couple of eggs and a stick of melted butter, then combine everything, being careful not to overmix. Divide the batter into greased muffin tin cups (skip the cupcake liners!) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Next comes the fun, and messy, part. After letting the muffins cool briefly, you toss them in melted butter, then thoroughly coat them in cinnamon sugar.
My Honest Review of Dirt Bombs
I’ve never had a dirt bomb before, so take my opinion with a grain of salt if you’re someone who knows and loves ‘em. But I was in love after the first bite. My neighbors gave them rave reviews, and so did my family.
Dirt bombs aren’t quite muffins, or at least my batch wasn’t. They’re denser and not as light and airy. A quick comparison with our favorite muffin recipe revealed that there’s double the butter in the batter! But I enjoyed the heartiness. The notes of nutmeg and cinnamon were present but not overpowering, and the buttery cinnamon sugar coating was as good as it sounds — especially while still warm. (Though leftovers the next morning were also very good.)
This was my first time cooking or baking from Reddit, and I was skeptical. Who exactly developed the recipe? And why do they call for mixing the sugar with the dry ingredients? (Normally sugar is mixed with wet ingredients like eggs and butter.) I still have no clue. But whoever did, I give you props.