Chocolate muffins are a treat for serious chocolate lovers, packing rich flavour into a tiny, portable bite you can enjoy anywhere, any time. Today we are telling the story of the chocolate muffin, a small treat with a mouthful of flavour.
A muffin is a baked good made in a small cup, similar to a cupcake. The word "muffin" comes from the French moufflet, meaning soft bread. Muffins are popular all over the world, and each country has adapted the recipe in its own way. The chocolate muffin is one of the most popular versions: rich chocolate pairs perfectly with the soft, fluffy crumb, and its flavour, sweet at first with a slight bitter finish, makes this bake especially tempting and delicious.
A Long History
Muffins have a long history dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries in Wales, Britain. They were originally food for servants in English society, made by kneading together bread scraps, biscuit dough and mashed potato into a dough and cooking it on a flat-bottomed pan. The chocolate muffins we often see are either flat like small round bread rolls, as in the original, or fully rounded, as they are today.
Muffins later became a popular bakery item in the 19th century, eaten by the English with their afternoon tea. Their popularity gave rise to "muffin men", mostly Irish people or immigrants, who walked the streets ringing bells to sell their wares, so much so that it disturbed the public and the government had to pass rules to control the noise. The muffin man was later immortalised in a popular English nursery rhyme. Muffins were at their most popular in England after the First World War, and many new recipes were added, including the chocolate muffin.
The American Muffin
The first country muffins spread to was America, where in the 1960s the recipe developed into a different style, sometimes likened to a doughnut, known as the American muffin. It came with all kinds of fillings, such as chocolate, fruit and jam, for more variety, and the flat-bottomed pan was replaced by a non-stick muffin pan, giving muffins a round shape unlike the original. Muffins have even been named official state desserts in America, with each place using its own recipe.
Chocolate muffins make a great snack, or a filling bite when you are in a hurry. They are also easy to make at home with just a few tools and a handful of common ingredients, making them ideal for beginners who want to try baking.
