Happy Mother’s Day everyone! My daughter has been counting down to today for about a month now, so I couldn’t have missed the occasion even if I wanted to. Presents were involved – a little flower pot made in art class, a pretty collage made for a school assignment and a black-grey skull drawing instead of a card because my daughter knows me well. I’m looking forward to some Dragon Age on the PS4 and maybe an episode of House of Cards (or 7) later, but for now… breakfast!

In true tradition, I took care of it for the gang this morning. That’s not something I mind, actually. I probably enjoy breakfast foods the most in our family and obviously, if you like something, you’ve gotta do it yourself. So, while getting breakfast served in bed is – sadly – for now just a fantasy, these little doughnuts that are really muffins were worth all the trouble and more.

Bon Appetit mag called these dirt bombs. Not sure about the origin of the name, but I tell you they’re filthy good. You can call me mother of deception, rather than mother of the year, because I totally sold them at breakfast as doughnuts. If you make them, you’ll agree with me on this one. Underneath the sugary-cinnamony crunch, they’re 100% muffins though and pretty simple at that, too.

For approx 12 – 18 (depending on the size of your muffin tin), you’ll need:
290g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
150g granulated sugar
1 large egg
115g butter, at room temperature
240ml milk

For the topping, you’ll need:
100g granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
60g butter, melted

1. Preheat oven at 190C.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, beat sugar and butter together until light and well combined.
4. Add the egg and beat till incorporated.
5. Add the dry ingredients and the milk to the mixer bowl, in alternate batches: one third of flour mix, then half of the milk, another third of flour mix, then milk, then finish with the flour mix.
6. Grease your muffin tin well. Scoop batter, filling about 2/3 of the muffin hole. (You can also use a doughnut pan or a Yorkshire pudding tin, like I did.)
7. Bake for 15 – 20 mins, or until a cake tester comes out batter-free.
8. Leave to cool for a few mins in the tin, then remove to a wire rack.
9. For the topping, melt the butter.
10. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
11. Dip the top of the muffins in the melted butter and finish by dipping in sugar and cinnamon.

Hope you enjoy them. As I’m writing this (approx 1pm), we’ve gone from 18 to 6 in about 3 hours. You be the judge of how we felt about them.