Muffin tops

That was classic Seinfled writing, who would have guessed that you could have taken something as silly as ripping off the top of a muffin and turning it into prime time TV. It's true! The top of the muffin, tastes somewhat better than the "stump." Why? What's the science behind the muffin top?

You can buy a pan that is a real shallow muffin tin so you can only make the top...

But Elaine's point (and the succeess of the shop) is you have to cook the whole muffin and then remove the top.

An old William Sonoma catalog sold a muffin pan to make the tops only..it was a very shallow muffin pan...

Scary.....

It Shrinks...??? Yeah..I got the computer fixed!

[email] (MClark8907) wrote:

Exactly, I think it has something to do with what happens to the muffin when it's baking. Did the muffins they used have paper cups on the stump, or did they put them directly in the pan? I bake my own muffins, and I like to use paper cups.

Hey, I like the stumps better.

In article ,

Hello, Newman. :)

Nathan Dietz "Pair of bear claws, please."

And about those people who like stomps... are they left out or do they have their special pan to make them too?

Just wondering,

someone who enjoys the whole muffin.

In article , (Nick) wrote:

I'm sure a good baker can explain it, but the same is true of the crust from an angel food cake. Better than the cake itself.

(Nick) wrote:

I think the "tops" are cooked more thoroughly due to their thinness. They are well-done.

The stump isn't as cooked and so doesn't have the crispness. Some people like pizza crusts for the same reason.

I loved that episode. I've been taking abuse from my family for years because I love those big- big muffins with the crispy chewy tops, and I give the bottoms to the dog. She loves the bottoms.

Referring to the bottoms as stumps though, might even turn off the dog..

Regards, J.Pat

In ,

I thought it was a pretty dumb idea. Nobody is going to make any money selling only muffin tops. You would lose half your money from the stumps. What a terrible waste of food. Almost as dumb as Kramer's idea of a pizza place where u make your own pie.

In article ,

There are places like that. The dough is made for you, you just put on sauce, cheese, toppings, etc.

Daniel

In Article whatchamacalit, that AOL is too lame to correctly site, [email] (Daniel Baker) wrote:

sauce, cheese, toppings, etc.<<<

mayBE but Kramer's idea was "you slap it, you roll it, you flip it in the air". And anyway, doesn't that make a hell of a mess for the poor workers to clean up?

Yeah? Raw materials for a single muffin must run about 5 cents. You sell a muffin top for a buck and a half. No profit there, huh?

In article , [email] (Dave) wrote:

-snip-

It's not just the cost of the raw materials for the muffin. It's the rent for the store, the cost for the ovens, racks, utilities (commercial kitchens run huge electricity/gas bills), insurance, labor, license, taxes...

The top is the best part

Dave <[email] > wrote in article ...

writes:

money

rent for

run

inexpensive

[email] (TroyaBlack) wrote:

Maybe someone should try selling pizza crusts?

In article , [email] wrote:

Just maybe he meant that it was a good idea for a comedy show, not that it was a good idea for a business.

Babu

TroyaBlack ([email]) wrote:

Lets look at this logically: A baker bakes a muffin and sells it for, say... $1.05. Elaine bakes a muffin, rips off the top and tosses the stump and sells it for $1.05, Now please tell me how Elaine is losing half her money? Given the tendencies of marketing & pr the tops could probably command a price premium over regular muffins.

I agree that its a waste of food and a dumb idea though history has shown dumb and wasteful sometimes sells. Pet Rocks anyone?

TroyaBlack wrote:

I thought it was a cute idea (because the tops *are* the best), but also kinda dumb. I mean, if you only like the tops, you can take them off *yourself*! I also thought about the waste of food and how could you make a profit. But somehow I still enjoyed it.

-Jen

I think selling the muffin tops is probably no different than selling just the crust of pizzas.

:

:

It doesn't _have_ to be a waste of food -- they could sell the stumps to their friendly neighborhood pig farmer or chicken farmer.

Bo

[email] (Tinita M. Wheaton) wrote:

and Sonoma and the Pottery Barn have been selling Muffin Top pans for years. For the same amount of batter you use selling regular muffins, you can make twice the amount of muffin tops and charge the same amount. You'd make more money than the person selling the regular muffins. Also, it is a novelty item so people would buy it.<<<

I was thinking that. If u had a pan that cooked only the tops, then maybe it could be done, but I wonder if it's really the same. Do these muffin tops have the same texture that comes out when the whole muffin is cooked?

My family is in the baking biz, and I have baked for years. The consistency of the muffin would be almost the same. In the Williams-Sonoma type pans there is a little stump (I can't believe I am using that teminology), so the bottom of the muffin will be more solid. If you rip off the top of the muffin from the stump the base will obviously be softer. If you bake the muffin top correctly, it shouldn't matter too much: you just can't overcook it. spencer

In article ,

That was the way that Lippman was doing it in the first place, but Elaine said that it wasn't the same as coming off of a whole muffin. Of course I don't know if that is true. That was in the show for laughs. Has anybody here used these muffin top pans?

Jodi