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. Quickbread muffins are made with flour, sieved together with bicarbonate of soda as a raising agent. Bran muffins use less flour and use bran instead, as oat bannock recipe as using molasses and brown sugar.
The mix is turned into a pocketed muffin tray, or into individual paper moulds, and baked in an oven. Milk is often added, as it contributes to the appealing browning appearance. The result are raised, individual quickbreads. Poppy seeds were already popular in most parts of the world for their taste and texture—as well as the narcotic characteristics of the opium poppy plant they are harvested from. Harvard University’s Nutrition Source states that while many fruit muffins may seem “to be a better breakfast than their donut neighbors” at your local coffeeshop, with their ‘ “often refined flours, high sodium, and plenty of added sugarand large portion size, they’re far from the optimal food choice to start your day. 300 calories, whereas the same restaurant’s chocolate chunk muffin has 620 calories.
The muffin top is the crisp upper part of the muffin, which has developed a “browned crust that’s slightly singed around the edges”. 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. 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.
