The following recipe comes from a collection of recipes found in a manuscript journal located in the H. Furlong Baldwin Library at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. The manuscript is attributed to Ann Maria Morris and the date of 1824 is written on the inside cover. The recipe below is one of many from the manuscript that will be included in a book I am writing. The book will contain biographical information about Mrs. Morris, an annotated transcript of the entire manuscript as it was written, and a section of modern recipe adaptations (including this one!).
To 1 quart of flour, add 1 pint of sour milk, or cream, 1 spoonful of butter, a little salt, a teaspoonful of Sal Aeratus, to be dissolved perfectly well with warm water, and add to the flour, when the oven, or griddle, is ready for baking, they should all be well mixed.
Based on the ingredients (actually the lack of sugar) and the direction to use an oven or a griddle, it seems likely that a "toastable" muffin is the type meant in this recipe. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest reference to this type of bread was made in 1703 whereby a "moofin" was described as "a wheat cake baked upon a bake-stone over the fire, as oat-cakes." Another similar recipe was published in 1747 in an English cookbook widely used in America by Hannah Glasse called The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. Glasse's recipe "To make Muffings and Oat-Cakes" offers this interesting instruction:
- 4.5 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1.5 Teaspoon Saleratus or Baking Soda
- 2 Cups Sour Milk (add 2 tablespoons white vinegar to 1 7/8 cups of milk)
- 1 Tablespoon Butter, Melted
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. Add the sour milk and melted butter to the flour mixture. Use a fork at first to blend the dry and liquid ingredients together. Then, use a rubber spatula to finish mixing everything together.
|The Muffin Dough is Very Thick|
4. Using a wet 1/2 cup measuring cup and a wet spatula, measure out dough into equal 1/2 cup cup servings. Fill each ring and use the wet spatula to even out the dough in each ring.
|Dough in Rings|
5. Cook for about 10 minutes and then turn. The rings may fall off as you turn them; that is fine. Cook another 10 minutes or until cooked thoroughly.
6. Split with a fork and toast.
7. Top with butter, jam, peanut butter, etc.
1. Food History News, Vol. IV, No. 2
3. Food History News, Vol, IV, No. 2, p. 4
4. Leslie, Eliza. Seventy-Five Sweetmeats for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, 1828 ed., p.67
5. Leslie, Eliza, Seventy-Five Sweetmeats for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, 1832 ed., p.?
6. Child, Lydia Marie, The Frugal Housewife, Dedicated to those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy, 1830 ed.
7. Food History News., Vol. IV, No. 2., p. 2.