Tiny Batch Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

These tiny batch whole wheat blueberry muffins are perfect when you just need three tender, sweet fruity muffins for breakfast or snack time. 

I must confess that when Muffin Monday comes around these days I struggle to find motivation to bake. It’s not that I don’t have a ton of ideas still. Far from it. Muffins are so versatile – sweet, savory or some combination of both - that I don’t think I’ll ever run out of ideas! 

The problem is that with just two of us at home we just don’t eat enough muffins. Back when my husband was working, I’d send in extras for him to share with his colleagues. I do still share with friends and neighbors but now I have a single lady living next door and she’s not a big eater. As I said, it’s a struggle. 

Hence my tiny batch this month and I’m wondering if it’s time to give up Muffin Mondays in the New Year. It might be time. 

Tiny Batch Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

This recipe makes three regular sized muffins. I baked them in silicone muffin cups rather than using a half empty six-cup muffin pan but that will work too. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 60g whole wheat flour

1/4 cup or 50g sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 large egg white, at room temperature

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons full-fat sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup or 45g fresh or frozen blueberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Line three muffin cups of a standard 6-cup  muffin pan with paper liners, or use silicone muffins cups on a baking pan. 

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 

Add in the blueberries and toss to coat. 

In another bowl, whisk the melted butter, egg white, sour cream (or yogurt), and vanilla extract. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and fold until combined and no streaks of flour remain. 

Divide the batter evenly between the three prepared muffin cups. 

Bake the muffins for 5 minutes in your preheated oven, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F or 180°C. 

Continue baking until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes more.

Place the muffins on a cooling rack and allow them to cool slightly before removing.

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month which means it’s Muffin Monday! Check out the links to the recipes my blogger friends and I are sharing today. 

• Banana Cranberry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Fig Muffins with Creamy Goat Cheese Filling from A Messy Kitchen
• Pumpkin Apple Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Seeded Rye Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Tiny Batch Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#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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Blueberry Muffins!

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Confit Turkey Thighs

A delicious alternative to roast turkey, serving just a few people, these succulent confit turkey thighs have crispy skin and melt-in-your mouth meat.

Just a few months ago, I was looking for a roast pheasant recipe only to discover that, much like a whole turkey, if you roast a whole pheasant, you often end up overcooking the breast to get the thighs cooked. If you read my roast pheasant crown post, you know that I decided to separate the parts and cook them separately, choosing to confit the whole legs.

That’s because once you cook something with the confit method, you will want to confit all the things. Duck legs, pork belly, garlic, chicken gizzards, even tomatoes! I’ve cooked them all covered in oil or fat. I’ve even poached wild salmon in butter, which is essentially what the confit method is: Poaching something slowly in fat or oil.

So last Thanksgiving when I found myself with only three eaters to cook turkey dinner for, my thoughts, as per usual, turned to confit. I decided on turkey thighs because we do love the crispy skin and smaller joints like legs and wings don’t really have one big piece of skin to crisp up or, frankly, as much meat to share. 

I already bought my turkey thighs to repeat this dish for Thanksgiving this year and I can hardly wait. It’s that good! 

Confit Turkey Thighs

This recipe is easily doubled or trebled, if you have the right pot and enough duck fat. If you don't have duck fat, you can use another animal fat like goose fat, lard, or schmaltz (rendered chicken fat), or mild vegetable oils such as olive oil, canola oil or peanut oil. Keep in mind that some fats might change the flavor of the confit compared to the traditional duck fat method.

Ingredients

2 turkey thighs, bone-in, skin on – approx. weight = 1.87 lbs

Flakey sea salt – I like Maldon

Poultry seasoning

Freshly ground black pepper

2 bay leaves

Duck fat to cover in tightfitting pan or Dutch oven – I used 3 3/4 cups or 887ml

Method

Generously season the turkey thighs all over with the salt, poultry seasoning and black pepper in a shallow pan or casserole that will fit in your refrigerator. Tuck the bay leaves under the thighs and cover with cling film.

Refrigerate 24 hours or as many as 48 hours. 

When ready to confit the turkey thighs, preheat your oven to a slow 300°F or 150°C.  

Wipe the salt off gently with a paper towel and dry the thighs. Put them into a close-fitting oven safe pan or Dutch oven.  

Warm the duck fat gently if it is solidified.

Pour the duck fat over the turkey thighs to cover. They look like they are sticking out but there is a very thin layer of fat over the top. 

Bake at this gentle temperature for at least 3 hours. Remove from the oven and use a slotted spoon to put the thighs in a snug storage container with a lid. Pour the duck fat from the cooking pan over the thighs to cover. 

When chilled, the fat covering will protect the turkey thighs. 

These confit turkey thighs can be kept, carefully covered, in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. As long as they are completely submerged in the duck fat and they are in an airtight container, they can last months. Confit is a great make-ahead dish.

To serve, bring the duck fat to room temperature and pour it off the turkey thighs. (Save it in a clean jar in the refrigerator for future use!)

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. 

Brown the thighs skin side down in a hot pan. This just takes a few minutes.

Turn the thighs over and brown the other side. 

Bake the thighs, skin side up, in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. You can do this in an empty pan but last Thanksgiving, I popped them on top of the pan of stuffing since that needed to be baked as well. It was a good decision!

Baked and just out of the oven

To serve, remove the crispy skin and cut it into strips. Pull the turkey apart into large pieces. Discard the bones. Put the turkey in a serving bowl, surrounded by the skin so people can help themselves to both. 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are acknowledging that not everyone has a crowd to cook for during the holidays. So, for those folks, we are sharing some holiday main courses with fewer diners in mind. Check out the links below. 

• Bacon-Wrapped Sirloin Tip Roast from Palatable Pastime
• Confit Turkey Thighs from Food Lust People Love
• Dry Brined Roast Turkey Breast from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Milk-Braised Pork Loin with Carrot Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Nawabi Mutton Biryani with Burani Boondi Raita from Sneha's Recipe
• Roasted Lemon, Herb & Lavender Spatchcocked Chicken from Culinary Cam
• Stuffed Pork Loin Roast from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Stuffed Turkey Breast with Gravy from Karen's Kitchen Stories

 

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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Homemade XO Sauce

Rich, decadent and luscious, homemade XO sauce with dried scallops, dried shrimp and dried ham isn’t cheap to make but it sure is delicious. Well worth the cost and time!

XO sauce was reportedly created in Hong Kong back in the 1980s in Spring Moon, an upscale restaurant in the five-star luxury hotel, The Peninsula Hong Kong, as a symbol of wealth and decadence. The name XO was taken from the very best extra old cognac, to indicate that the sauce was also of the highest caliber. 

It caught on and became popular over all of Asia, and now the jarred condiment is available on store shelves worldwide. Sometimes the ingredients aren’t actually extra special and that’s why homemade is often best. They tend to skimp on the scallops.

I totally get that because I couldn’t find dried scallops in a local shop. I considered my options and decided I couldn't skimp so I went one extra step and dried some fresh Channel Island scallops as my first step. Seven ounces yielded only 2 oz when dried. The recipe below assumes you are able to find some!

Homemade XO Sauce

If you would rather your XO sauce not be quite as spicy, you can remove the seeds from the chili peppers. We love spicy so I leave ours in. This makes about 2 1/4 cups or 475g. Start this recipe early in your day. It can take up to five hours to make. 

Ingredients

2 oz or 57g dried scallops

2 oz or 57g dried shrimp

2 oz or 57g Jinhua or Yunnan ham, or prosciutto

6 large garlic cloves

4 large red or golden shallots

6 large red chili peppers

2 cups or 480ml peanut oil

1 tablespoon cayenne

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Method

Soak the scallops and shrimp separately each in 1 cup or 240ml of hot water for at least 1 hour. Drain well, reserving the strained liquid from the scallops.

Peel your shallots and garlic and chop them roughly. Destem the peppers and chop them as well. (See note above ingredient list.) Put all three into your food processor and chop them finely with a few quick zaps

You are looking for finely minced, not puréed. 

Use your clean hands to pull the ham apart into fine shreds.

Shred the drained scallops by pounding them a few at time in a mortar to separate the fibers. 

Roughly grind the drained shrimp in a mortar and pestle as well or cheat like I do by using a food processor. The shrimp are tough to grind and after pounding the scallops, who even has the energy? 

Preheat your oven to 212°F or 100°C. (If your oven won’t go this low, you can continue on the stovetop but you will have to watch the sauce very carefully and keep the fire very low so it doesn’t burn.) 

Heat 1/3 cup or 80ml of the peanut oil in a medium, oven-proof pan or pot over low heat and fry the garlic, shallots and chili peppers for about 10 minutes until they are fragrant and softened. 

Add the shredded scallops, shrimp, ham or prosciutto, salt, sugar, cayenne powder, soy sauce and about a 1/4 cup or 60ml of the soaking liquid from the scallops. 

Bring to a simmer and cook over a low flame until the liquid is evaporated or absorbed, stirring often. Make a space in the middle of the sauce with a spatula or wooden spoon and wait a minute or so to see if liquid fills the hole. (Left photo below,) If it does, stir again and cook a little longer to dry the mixture a little more. (Right photo below.)

Add the remaining oil and stir well.

Put the pot in your low oven and cook uncovered for 3-4 hours until the color of the sauce intensifies and it becomes thick, oily and jammy. Stir the mixture occasionally.

Transfer the XO sauce to clean jars and top with any oil left in the cooking pan. 

Seal and refrigerate until ready to use. The sauce will keep for about 6 months.

Homemade XO sauce is excellent stirred through steamed rice or egg noodles, as part of a dipping sauce for dumplings or as a topping for stir-fried greens or a fried egg. In fact, it’s good with just about anything savory! 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 24th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter X. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the X recipes below:

• Food Lust People Love: Homemade XO Sauce
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Pai Huang Gua Hé Xigua
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Rotisserie Chicken Xavier Soup with Fennel 
• Culinary Cam: The Luxurious Umami Bomb that is (Homemade) XO Sauce + How to Use it
• Palatable Pastime: Vietnamese Sesame Shrimp Noodles (Mi Xao Tom) 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Xacuti Chicken Mince Stuffed Bell Peppers#AlphabetChallenge 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Xanthia Cocktail
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Xavier Soup 
• A Messy Kitchen: Xiao Mi Zhou (Millet porridge/congee) 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Xocolati- Mexican Hot Chocolate 

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 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken 

N. Nocciolata Swirl Meringues 

O. Jersey Octopus Ceviche 

P. Easy Pastina Soup 

Q. Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad 

R. Celeriac Mash with Scallop Roe Butter 

S. Fresh Scallop Sashimi 

T. Roasted Chicken Thighs with Stuffing 

U. Umeboshi Calamansi Lime Juice

V. Mirabelle Plum Vodka 

W. Welsh Rarebit Potatoes with Cavolo Nero 

X. Homemade XO Sauce – this post! 

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Vanilla Mirabelle Plum Jam - Small Batch

This vanilla Mirabelle plum jam recipe makes just two jars of sweet, tart, spreadable deliciousness. One to keep and one to give away. Perfect. 

If you’ve been reading along here the last few months, you might recall a post I shared for Mirabelle plum vodka, made with plums I foraged in the wild. It turned out to be a delightful beverage, alone or as part of a cocktail. 

Rereading that post, I realize that I did not confess that I had no idea what exactly I had found when I came across those colorful little orbs. I wasn’t familiar with Mirabelle plums and it took a Google Lens search to find out the correct name for my bounty. I did confirm with friends online because Google has been wrong on occasion. 

And now that we know where that tree is, you can guarantee we’ll be back to collect the windfall next August as well! (For those of you paying attention, in most of the world, dates are written DD/MM, not MM/DD as in the US.)

Vanilla Mirabelle Plum Jam - Small Batch

I used jam sugar, called sucre spécial confiture in France, to make this small batch jam. It contains pectin in the sugar so no pectin needs to be added. This can also be made with regular sugar but just won’t set as firmly. Still delicious. Or you can add pectin. This is adapted from a recipe on California Grown. 

Ingredients  

1 lb or 450g Mirabelle plums

Jam sugar – equal amount by weight as the plums once pits are removed

1/2 vanilla bean

2 tablespoons vanilla extract, homemade or store-bought

Equipment

2 clean, sterilized jam jars

Wide-mouth funnel for filling jars

 

N.B. Make sure your jars and lids are thoroughly sterilized because this quick canning method does not require a hot water bath or pressure cooking. If you have any doubts whatsoever, store the jam in the refrigerator once cooled. I reused two Bonne Maman (13 oz or 370g) jars, which worked perfectly. 

Method

Rinse the plums and drain them well. Slice them in half and remove the pits. Split the half vanilla bean in half lengthwise.

Weigh the pitted plums and then weigh out an equal amount of sugar. 

Use a spoon to scrape the insides of the vanilla bean. 

Place the prepared plums, sugar, vanilla extract, vanilla bean and the scrapings in a medium-sized saucepan.

Cook over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. 

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often.

Lower the heat to medium-high and allow the jam to boil for 4 minutes, if using jam sugar with pectin and 12-15 minutes if using regular sugar, stirring frequently until it begins to thicken.

To check if the jam is ready, you can put a saucer in the freezer, then add a spoonful of the jam to the cold plate. If it starts to firm up, the jam is ready. 

If the jam is still runny, cook it for a few more minutes then check again.

Once the jam has set up, immediately ladle the boiling hot jam into the clean jars, with a teaspoon in each, putting one half of the half vanilla bean in each jar, moving the funnel along as you go. Do be careful not to splash jam on yourself.

 

Remove the teaspoons and screw the lids on the jars very tightly, using a towel to hold the hot jars and turn the lids.  

Turn the jars upside down so that the hot jam further sterilizes the insides of your clean lids.

Leave the jars upside down until the jam has completely cooled, which could take several hours. Turn the jars upright and check that the center buttons on the lids have popped in, if your lids have those. 

Any jars that don't have buttons or whose buttons have not popped in should be stored in the refrigerator as the seal might not be good and bacteria could get in. 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are celebrating National Homemade Bread Day (which is tomorrow, 17 November) by sharing recipes for bread OR things you might serve with or on bread. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Air Fryer Small Sourdough Sandwich Bread from Sneha's Recipe
• A Magical Small Sourdough Loaf from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Herb Flatbread from Culinary Cam
• Homemade Pitas from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• No Knead Ciabatta from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Two Ingredient Cottage Cheese Rolls from Our Good Life
• Vanilla Mirabelle Plum Jam - Small Batch from Food Lust People Love

 

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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