Muffins - the American ones

"This is what makes a perfect muffin: A 2:1 ratio of muffin top-to-base, maximizing the surface area in which the batter develops a browned crust that’s slightly singed around the edges. As Elaine Benes famously said in The Muffin Tops episode of Seinfeld: 'It’s the best part. It’s crunchy, it’s explosive, it’s where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does its own thing.'” Karon Liu - Toronto Star

Today we did our usual brief shop - essentially to get the Australian Financial Review, but today my husband also had to top up his supply of apple and cinnamon muffins from Woolworths. They come in a plastic tray and look like this:

He has them for lunch everyday and claims they are better than the ones I make. I think he thinks they are healthy because they've got apples and oats in them, but I suspect the sugar content is pretty high. Indeed it is - I just checked - almost a quarter of it's weight is sugar. Mind you there is probably a fair amount of sugar in the ones I make too, but obviously I don't get the texture or something right. Well I don't pride myself on cake making. Not one of my major cooking skills.

But it got me to thinking about muffins. When and why did they become such a big thing, and where do they come from anyway? Well it seems that part of the reason they became so popular was this 'healthy' image. Which came from the fact that they contained various healthy things, whether sweet or savoury - blueberries are a super food after all aren't they?

“Industry observers attribute the popularity of muffins to the fact that they fit well into the fast-paced, health-conscious, yuppie lifestyle". Dana McCauley

They do come from America but originally they were more like the English ones (about more tomorrow). These contain yeast and are not at all the same thing. However, the immigrant Americans, over time devised the modern muffin, frequently laced with blueberries. But it wasn't until the 1970s and 80s that they really took off.

There’s nothing more the consumer wants than convenience, taste and nutrition. It’s seldom a category has all three, but muffins have all three.” Dana McCauley

I don't really know why they took off though - and neither does anyone else really. Never mind - they did take off and although the muffin madness may well have passed, muffins are still pretty big. There are lots of cake mixes in the supermarket as well as the muffins themselves, and no self-respecting café or coffee shop would be seen dead without a muffin or two on offer. However, in recent times they have been rather overtaken by cupcakes - inspired by a scene in Sex and the City I believe. Cupcakes though are not at all the same thing.

“Cupcakes had more panache, elegance and excitement. They have a decadent feel and you knew they were a dessert while people still saw muffins as breakfast.” Cara Rosenbloom - Dietitian

And it is true is it not? Cupcakes are a high tea and party thing. Muffins are for snacks and breakfast - well not my breakfast - far too stodgy. Yes they have the same basic ingredients, but prepared and finished off in totally different ways.

With cupcakes you cream the butter and sugar together before adding anything else. For muffins you mix the dry ingredients together, beat your eggs, and liquid together, mix lightly and fold in your extras, put in the paper cases and cook. Simple.

The main trick with muffins, it seems is not to overmix. Never mind what it looks like, be fast and fold rather than stir. Get everything ready before you start and then just go for it.

I found two very good articles on what to watch for. One from Felicity Cloake of course and the other from Dan Lepard on the BBC website. Dan Lepard's is perhaps the best here. Or you can watch a video on how to do it on Delia's website. As she says in her introduction it's much easier to show than explain when it comes to making muffins. And it's really, really easy to make them. So simple that it's,

"not something that comes easily to the conscientious baker who feels there must be more to it than that". Annie Bell

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has lots of suggestions for how to vary the flavour, whether savoury or sweet

"experiment with different flours – substitute a third of the flours used here with cornmeal, buckwheat or spelt. Toss some grated apple in with grated carrot, try them with different cheeses – dollops of soft goat's cheese or cubed feta stirred into the mix work well. Add a handful of toasted nuts and be generous with the herbs. Stir in some chopped olives or strips of roasted red pepper. Roasted and puréed squash or sweet potato with a few grinds of nutmeg are delicious later in the year, too."

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

And Taste.com has 1,487 recipes for muffins! Really it's just a case of let your imagination run wild. Here are a few examples:

From top to bottom and left to right: Jill Dupleix's plum and blueberry yoghurt muffins, Jamie Oliver's pea and chorizo muffins, Donna Hay's rhubarb crumble muffins and Jamie Oliver's quinoa and kale muffins. Apologies there seems to be no link to Jill Dupleix's recipe. I picked these four because it seemed to me that this was representative of the way muffins are developing right now.

I confess I don't particularly like muffins. They always seem a bit stodgy to me, and I think that in spite of the simplicity of the process it is obviously not that easy really.

“They’re either far too delicate and overly rich, or dry, crumbly and dense. People mistakenly think that since muffins are a breakfast food, they should be ultra-healthy, and then don't make them rich enough. So it’s the middle ground you want in the best muffin, avoiding extremes but closer to a quick bread than a cupcake. Andrew Janjigian - Cook's Illustrated Magazine

The general opinion seems to be that they are definitely not a cake:

"If you can’t pour the the batter into a 8-in. circular pan and make a birthday cake, then you have yourself a muffin." Megan Prendergast - University of Texas

The above is typical of the general feeling. But then along comes Delia and makes a muffin cake - and I have made it and it was pretty nice. Though I suppose it's not a birthday cake. It's called Blueberry and pecan muffin cake

and she demonstrates it in that video I referred you to earlier on.

So I want to keep trying because it is so simple. And I will.

The last thing to remember though is that they don't keep.

"The fact is, big or small, the only good muffin is a freshly baked muffin: they lose their bloom fast, so it's impossible to mass-produce the light fluffiness of the real thing." Felicity Cloake

Well, according to my husband, not so. For as I said, he prefers the mass-produced Woolworths variety to my own handmade ones. And as they don't keep, don't make too many or freeze what you have left. According to Felicity Cloake this is what a perfect blueberry muffin should look like: