Today’s article is an “oops.” We originally found this fun pie crust idea (photo #1) in our Twitter feed. It was from The Cupcake Project, “Repost from @chefclubtv via @kitchen.tv.”

Our process for cataloguing ideas is to take a screen shot with the URL or social media handle; then, if we want to share it, go back to the site and get more information about the author and the recipe.

In this case, we couldn’t find the post for an M&Ms pie crust under @cupcakeproject, @chefclubtv or @kitchen.tv.

We looked and looked and looked. We searched Twitter, Facebook, Google Images and the Internet overall. Even A.I. couldn’t find it.

There was a video attached to the recipe (photo #2). We found it on Pinterest.

We found lots of other M&Ms pie crust ideas, but not anything like this one, which rolls the M&Ms under the rim of the crust (a relative of Domino’s hot dog pizza crust).

So we tried our best to provide instructions, below.

If you know where we can find the original recipe, please let us know so we can link to it.

> The year’s 60+ candy holidays (National M&Ms Day is October 13th).

> The year’s 69 chocolate holidays.

> The year’s 31 pie holidays.

> The history of pie.

> The different types of pie: a photo glossary.
> The history of M&Ms is below.
 
 
RECIPE: M&Ms PIE CRUST

Surprise your friends and family when you hide M&M candies in your pie crust.

1. ROLL out your pie crust with an extra inch in diameter to roll over the M&Ms.

2. PLACE a rim of M&Ms around the bottom edge of the pie crust. (The photos show Peanut M&Ms. There are 11 flavors of M&Ms!)

3. ROLL the crust over the M&Ms. You should have enough dough to pinch or flute the top rim of the pie.

4. FILL with your favorite filling and bake as usual.
 
 
WHAT PIE FILLING SHOULD YOU USE?

Your own palate will guide you. Ours pointed us to cream pies.

There are so many different flavors of M&Ms these days, that you can conceive many more pairings.

The current M&Ms flavor lineup includes Almond, Caramel, Coffee Nut, Crispy, Dark Chocolate, Fudge Brownie, Milk Chocolate, Mint Peanut, Peanut Butter, Pretzel and White Chocolate.

Here are pairings for the two main flavors:
 
 
Fillings That Pair With Milk Chocolate M&Ms

 
Pie Fillings That Pair With Peanut Or Peanut Butter M&Ms

 
> The history of pie.

> The different types of pie: a photo glossary.

[1] M&Ms pie crust (photos #1 and #2 via Kitchen.tv).

[2] We found the video on Pinterest, on the page of ChefClubTV.app.link, a German website.

[3] Get out the M&Ms and get to work. The history of M&Ms is below (photo © Robert Anasch | Unsplash).

[4] Ripped off: The idea for M&Ms was copied from Smarties (photo © Fritish | CC By SA 2.0 License).

M&Ms were created in New Jersey in 1941 by Forrest E. Mars, Sr., son of the Mars Company founder, Franklin Clarence Mars.

During the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, the story goes, he saw soldiers eating Smarties*, a British‡ candy consisting of chocolate pellets surrounded by a colored shell of hardened sugar syrup, which prevented the chocolate from melting.

He copied the idea and varied the product enough—both the chocolate filling and the shape of the candy, which is rounder than the flat Smarties—to receive a patent.

M&M Limited was founded in Newark, New Jersey in 1940. The M&Ms candy was ready to launch in 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7th and the U.S. entered World War II on December 8th†.

Not surprisingly, the first customer for M&Ms was the U.S. Army. With chocolate rationing during the War, M&Ms were exclusively sold to the military. They proved an ideal way for soldiers to carry energy-rich chocolate in tropical climates without it melting.

After the war, in 1947, the candy was made available to the public. Its popularity has never waned since. Here’s more of the history.

By the way, the two Ms of M&Ms represent the initials of Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey Chocolate’s president William F. R. Murrie. Murrie had a 20% share in the profits due to his ability to provide Hershey cocoa to Mars (Hershey had control of the rationed cocoa, the prime ingredient of chocolate, at the time).

Coincidentally, both Mars and the Smarties Candy Company have always been located in New Jersey.
 
________________

*The brand is now owned by Nestlé, with headquarters in London.

†World War II began in Europe on September 3, 1939, following Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1st. This act triggered the commitments made by England in France in their alliance with Poland to defend Polish sovereignty.

‡There are two different candies called Smarties. The U.S.-based Smarties Candy Company (Ce De Candy) only owns the trademark to the name Smarties in the U.S. Their product is a fruit-flavored sugar tablet. Outside the U.S. Smarties is a registered trademark of Nestlé (formerly Rowntree Mackintosh PLC, which was acquired by Nestlé in 1988 (along with their other brands, Aero, After Eight, Kit Kat, and Polo mints). When Rowntree’s Smarties (the chocolate kind) were introduced in North America, the Smarties Candy Company already owned the registered trademark name in the U.S.

So how can Nestlé’s Smarties be sold in the U.S.? Through a perfectly legal practice called parallel import (also called gray market goods). Authentic products tare legally purchased in one country and then imported into another country without the authorization of the trademark holder in that destination country. British Smarties are imported through unofficial channels rather than through Nestlé’s authorized distribution network. Since Nestlé doesn’t distribute them, they have not violated the trademark of American Smarties.
 
 

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[1] Homemade lemon ice cream, from the gifted hands of The Baker Chick (photos #1 and #2 and recipe © The Baker Chick).

[2] You’ll need a quart container to hold the ice cream.

[3] Top with blueberry compote or raspberry sauce. Here’s the compote recipe.

[4] We tried the recipe with Meyer lemons*, which are sweeter and actually have more lemon flavor than the standard Bearss and Lisbon supermarket lemon varieties (photos #3 and #4) © Good Eggs).

June is National Lemon Month. We have a delicious lemon ice cream recipe for you below.

In fact, top the lemon ice cream with easy-to-make blueberry compote or raspberry sauce for a dashing lemon sundae.

This is not the only lemon “holiday.” Here’s the lineup:
 
 
LEMON FOOD HOLIDAYS

 
And who knows what’s next on the horizon. We vote for lemon bars, lemon pound cake and lemon sorbet.
 
 
WHO DECIDES ON FOOD HOLIDAYS

Food holidays are just a drop in the bucket. Prior to the Internet, special observance days (“holidays”)—from National Kazoo Day to World Meteorology Day—were declared officially by governments: local, state and our Congress.

A book, Chase’s Calendar Of Events, published by McGraw Hill, served as an official compendium of holidays worldwide. You could also apply to Chase’s to create an official “event day.”

Here’s how it works.

But with blogging and social media, people who didn’t know the rules simply declared whatever holidays they wished, and the holidays went viral.

The first food holiday we remember as such is World Nutella Day, declared on February 5, 2007 by a blogger named Sara Rosso, who wanted to share her favorite spread to her friends.

And the floodgates opened.

 
RECIPE: LEMON ICE CREAM

This recipe is from The Baker Chick, one of our favorite food bloggers. Head to her website: You’ll want to make every recipe.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. BEAT the egg yolks slightly in a large bowl, to break them up.

2. HEAT the heavy cream, milk and sugar to a simmer in a large, heavy saucepan. Slowly pour the hot the milk mixture over the eggs and return the combined mixture to the saucepan.

3. SLOWLY COOK on medium heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the lemon juice and zest.

4. REFRIGERATE for several hours. Freeze for an extra hour or two if you like your ice cream a little firmer.

5. CHURN in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

May we suggest a lemon ice cream sundae with raspberry sauce or blueberry compote (photo #3), with garnishes of mascarpone (instead of whipped cream) and pistachio nuts?
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF ICE CREAM

> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ICE CREAM & FROZEN DESSERTS

> THE HISTORY OF LEMONS

> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEMONS
 
 
________________

*We used the sweeter, less acidic Meyer lemons (photo #4).
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Why add olives to salsa? Because June 1st is National Olive Day.

Olives add another layer of flavor—tangy and piquant—to the sweetness of the tomatoes, the bite of the raw onion, and the heat of the chile spice(s).

This recipe from DeLallo shows how easy it is.

There’s also an easy hack: Add sliced or quartered olives to store-bought salsa.

Note that since salsa means sauce in Spanish, olive salsa is also a sauce made from chopped olives. Here’s a recipe.
 
 
RECIPE: OLIVE SALSA

This recipe is for a red salsa, but you can also add olives to salsa verde.

You can also use the salsa as a sauce or a condiment with chicken, fish, lamb, pork and vegetables.

For this recipe, DeLallo used their Piccante Green Pitted Olives, which are blended with hot chile flakes.

If you prefer black olives to green olives, make the switch!
 
 
Ingredients

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients in a large bowl; mix gently until thoroughly incorporated.

2. TRANSFER to a serving bowl and serve with tortilla chips.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF SALSA
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SALSA
 
 
 > 15 MORE USES FOR SALSA
 
 
> TYPES OF OLIVES & OLIVE OIL

[1] Olive salsa with tortilla chips (photos #1 and #2 and recipe © DeLallo).

[2] DeLallo uses its Piccante Olives, with added red chile flakes. In English, piccante translates to spicy or hot.

[3] If you don’t like green olives, use black olives. If you like both, how about a mix (photo © Food Match)?