A muffin is
an individual-sized, baked product. It can refer to two distinct items, a
part-raised flatbread that is baked and then cooked on a griddle (typically
unsweetened) and a cupcake-like quickbread (often sweetened) that is chemically
leavened and then baked in a mold. While quickbread muffins are often
sweetened, there are savory varieties made with ingredients such as corn and
cheese. The flatbread is of British or European derivation, and dates from at
least the early 18th century, while the quickbread originated in North America
during the 19th century. Both are common worldwide today.
One 19th
century source suggests that "muffin" may be related to the Greek
bread "maphula", a "cake baked on a hearth or griddle", or
from Old French "mou-pain" ("soft bread"), which may have
been corrupted into "mouffin". The word is first found in print in
1703, spelled moofin; its origin is not certain but possibly derived from
the Low German Muffen, the plural of Muffe meaning a small cake, or possibly
with some connection to the Old French moufflet meaning soft, as said of
bread. The expression "muffin-man", meaning a street seller of
muffins are witnessed in a 1754 poem, which includes the line: "Hark! the
shrill Muffin-Man his Carol plies.."
Quickbread
muffins (sometimes described in Britain as "American muffins" are
baked, individual-sized, cupcake-shaped foods with a "moist,
coarse-grained" texture. Muffins are available in both savory
varieties, such as cornmeal and cheese muffins (i.e. flatbread muffins), or
sweet varieties such as blueberry, chocolate chip, lemon, or banana flavors.
Sweetened muffins range from lightly sweetened muffins to products that are
"richer than many cakes in fat and sugar."They are similar to
cupcakes in size and cooking methods, the main difference being that cupcakes
tend to be sweet desserts using cake batter and which are often topped with
sugar icing (American frosting). Muffins may have solid items mixed into the
batter, such as berries, chocolate chips, or nuts. Freshly baked muffins are sold
by bakeries, donut shops, and some fast-food restaurants and coffeehouses.
Factory baked muffins are sold at grocery stores and convenience stores and are
also served in some coffee shops and cafeterias.
On the top is the crisp upper part of the muffin, which has developed a "browned
crust that's slightly singed around the edges". In 2018, McDonald's
restaurant announced they were planning to sell muffin tops as part of its
McCafe breakfast menu.
The use of
the term to describe what are essentially cupcakes or buns did not become
common usage in Britain until the last decades of the 20th century on the back
of the spread of coffee shops such as Starbucks. Recipes for quickbread muffins
are common in 19th-century American cookbooks. Recipes for yeast-based
muffins, which were sometimes called "common muffins" or "wheat
muffins" in 19th-century American cookbooks, can be found in much older cookbooks.
In Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, she gave recipes for both
types of muffins, both those that used yeast to raise the dough and those that
used a quick bread method, using muffin rings to shape the English muffins.
Farmer indicated that stove top "baking", as is done with yeast
dough, was a useful method when baking in an oven was not practical. Over
the years, the size and calorie content of muffins has changed: the
"3-inch muffins grandmother made had only 120 to 160 calories. But today’s
giant bakery muffins contain from 340 to 630 calories each."
Quickbread
muffins are made with flour, sieved together with bicarbonate of soda as a
raising agent. To this is added butter or shortening, eggs, and any flavorings
(fruit, such as blueberries, chocolate, or banana; or savories, such as
cheese). Bran muffins use less flour and use bran instead, as well as using
molasses and brown sugar. The mix is turned into a pocketed muffin tray, or
into individual paper molds, and baked in an oven. Milk is often added, as it
contributes to the appealing browning appearance. The result is raised individual quickbreads. The muffin may have toppings added, such as cinnamon
sugar, streusel, nuts, or chocolate chips.
Commercial
muffins may have "modified starches", corn syrup (or high-fructose
corn syrup), xanthan gum, or guar gum to increase moisture content and lengthen
shelf life (as well, these gums can make added solids, such as chocolate chips,
disperse more evenly in the batter).
Nutrition
Harvard
University's Nutrition Source states that while may fruit muffins may seem
"...to be a better breakfast than their donut neighbors" at your
local coffee shop, but with muffins' "...often refined flours, high sodium,
and plenty of added sugar...and large portion size, they’re far from the
optimal food choice to start your day." Consumers think that
commercial muffins are a healthier choice than donuts; however, according to
Registered Dietician Karen Collins, yeast or raised donuts have from 170 to 270
calories each (cake doughnuts have from 290 to 360 calories), while large
bakery muffins have from 340 to 630 calories each and 11 to 27 grams of total
fat. "Most muffins are deceptively high in fats", with up to 40%
fat content, which many consumers are not aware of.
The type of
muffin can have a big impact on its fat and sugar content; one major fast food
chain's low-fat berry muffin has 300 calories, whereas the same restaurant's
chocolate chunk muffin has 620 calories. Harvard's Nutrition Source
recommends smaller-sized, whole-grain muffins with reduced sugar content,
liquid plant oil instead of shortening or butter, and added wholesome foods
such as nuts (or nut flour) or beans (or bean flour) or fresh fruit or vegetables.
Flatbread
muffins (known in the United States and elsewhere as "English
muffins", or simply 'muffins' in Britain, or "bakery
muffins" are a flatter disk-shaped, typically unsweetened
yeast-leavened bread; generally about 4 in (10 cm) round and 1.5 in (3.8 cm)
tall. It is of English or European origin. Rather than being entirely
oven-baked, they are also cooked in a griddle on the stovetop and flipped from
side-to-side, which results in their typical flattened shape rather than the
rounded top seen in baked rolls or cake-type muffins. "Cornmeal and
bran are sometimes substituted for some of the flour."These muffins
are popular in Commonwealth countries and the United States. Flatbread muffins
are often served toasted for breakfast. They may be served with butter or
margarine and topped with sweet toppings, such as jam or honey, or savory
toppings (e.g., round sausage, cooked egg, cheese, or bacon). Flatbread muffins
are often eaten as breakfast food (e.g. as an essential ingredient in Eggs
Benedict and most of its variations), accompanied by coffee or tea.
History
English
muffins were first mentioned in literature in the early 18th century, although the product is undoubtedly older than that. In the Oxford Companion to
Food, Alan Davidson states that "[t]here has always been some confusion
between muffins, crumpets, and pikelets, both in recipes and in the name." The increasing popularity of flatbread muffins in the 19th century is
attested by the existence of "...muffin men [who] traversed the town
streets at teatime, ringing their bells" to sell them. The
bell-ringing of muffin men became so common that by the 1840s, the British Parliament
passed a law to prohibit bell ringing by muffin men, but it was not adhered to
by sellers.
A
Victorian-era muffin man using a bell to alert patrons that he is nearby.
"Mush
muffins (called slipperdowns in New England) were a Colonial [American] muffin
made with hominy on a hanging griddle." Theses and other types of
flatbread muffins were known to American settlers, but they declined in
popularity with the advent of the quickbread muffin. The English muffin was
re-introduced to the American market in 1880 as "English muffins" by
English-American baker Samuel Beth Thomas (whose baked-goods company Thomas
survives to this day). Thomas called the product "toaster crumpets",
and intended them as a "more elegant alternative to toast' to be served in
fine hotels The English muffin has been described as a variant form of a
crumpet, or a "cousin", with the difference being the location of the
holes; in a crumpet, the holes go all the way to the top, whereas with an
English muffin, the holes are inside. In 1910, Fred Wolferman of Kansas
City, Missouri began making denser English muffins at his family grocery,
using empty tin cans as molds.
Manufacture
Muffin tins
and muffin pans are typically metal bakeware which has round bowl-shaped
depressions into which muffin batter is poured. Muffin tins or pans can be
greased with butter or cooking spray, to lessen the issue of batter sticking to
the pan. Alternatively, muffin cups or cases are used. Cups or cases are
usually round sheets of paper, foil, or silicone with scallop-pressed
edges, giving the muffin a round cup shape. They are used in the baking of
muffins to line the bottoms of muffin tins, to facilitate the easy removal of
the finished muffin from the tin. The advantage to cooks is easier removal and
cleanup, more precise form, and moister muffins; however, using them will
prevent a crust from forming. A variety of sizes for muffin cases are
available. Slightly different sizes are considered "standard" in different
countries. Miniature cases are commonly 1 to 1.25 in (25 to 32 mm) in diameter
at the base and .75 in (19 mm) tall. Standard-size cases range from 1.75 to 2
inches (44 to 51 mm) in diameter at the base and are 1.25 to 1.5 in (32 to 38
mm) tall. Some jumbo-size cases can hold more than twice the size of standard
cases. Australian and Swedish bakers are accustomed to taller paper cases with
a larger diameter at the top than American and British bakers.
A Muffineer
was originally a sugar shaker, looking like a large salt cellar with a
perforated decorative top, for spreading powdered sugar on muffins and other
sweet cakes. Later, in the 19th century, the term was also used to describe a
silver, or silver-plated, muffin dish, with a domed lid and a compartment below
for hot water, used to keep toasted English muffins warm before serving.
In popular
culture
Flatbread
"The
Muffin Man" is a traditional nursery rhyme, children's song, or children's
game of English origin from 1820.
A
well-known reference to English muffins is in Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The
Importance of Being Earnest.
In the In Seinfeld sitcom episode The Muffin Tops (episode 21 of season 8), the character
Elaine, who only eats the muffin tops when she buys a muffin, realizes that a
bakery selling just the tops could be successful. Once the business is running,
she has to figure out what to do with the muffin bottoms, which proves
difficult.
I've tried to prepare Muffins with Pizza Ingredients as my kids love Pizza in any form or shape, they just savor the taste of Pizza whether it is standard Pizza, Calzone, Pizza Bread, or Pizza Buns, they just want them in their mouth. So the experiment was awesome not only for my kids but for our neighbors and guests. They all loved these Pizza Muffins. Moreover, there is nothing that can be termed as cumbersome or time taking, it is just like you are baking Cupcakes.
Try this recipe at the first available chance you get and get a lot of praise and ooohs and aaahs, as well as Vows.
Let us start preparing our Pizza Muffins with the name of ALLAH.
