Muffin Top

The other day I was at a McCafe, think McDonald's meets Starbucks, and spotted an orange poppyseed muffin. I was on my way to see an apartment so I passed on the indulgence. Today, I spotted the same muffin at a coffee counter just as I got off the train and decided to get it along with my flat white (kinda like a latte but less milk). I couldn't wait to stuff my mouth with a generous chunk right from the top of the muffin. To my mortal disappointment, the muffin tasted like flour with the texture of crumbly cardboard. So much for the chunk of orange slice baked into the top as garnish. Nonetheless I was hungry so I kept eating, too stubborn for a muffin top to go to waste. To my surprise, the more I ate, the better the muffin tasted. It was as if the flavor and moisture was concentrated in the core and the intensity of orange progressed the more I ate. When I actually got to the center of the muffin, I was rewarded with another chunk of orange. Nice, kinda like a toy surprise except the actual orange wasn't as good as the muffin.

This orange poppyseed muffin compared to the usual cranberry orange muffin I enjoyed in the state side was a perfect example of how similar yet tremendously different the U.S. was from Australia. While the obvious difference of poppyseed versus cranberry was expected, the subtle differences were not and perhaps more astonishing. I realized how much sweeter baked goods were in the U.S., whereas here they were moderately sweet. One has to train the tastebuds to search for sugary bliss. I think the difference in texture was due to the amount of fat used in the batter. Back home the muffin tops were moist and sticky, almost to a fault, but with just a slight crispy edge bordering the paper. In addition the American muffin tops has sprinkled sugar adding to the crunch factor.

It may seem that the Australian muffin is lacking (in fat and sugar), but I wondered if the comparison was the other way, how U.S. muffins would be judged. Would it be too mushy and greasy? Overly sweet? Perhaps a better muffin would be somewhere in between the two, a cranberry orange poppyseed muffin--not too sweet and not too sticky. I saw myself in the muffins, hoping one day to achieve the recipe for perfect muffin top.