National Oatmeal Muffin Day

December 19th is National Oatmeal Muffin Day in the United States.

Another one of the more specific food celebrations, this one for a particular type of muffin.

This type of muffin is sometimes called an American muffin, to distinguish it from the flatter version known as the English muffin. This type is an individual bread dish, rather like a cupcake in both preparation and size. Cupcakes are often made in muffin trays. Muffins can be sweet or savoury, although sweet varieties tend to be more common.

This particular type uses oatmeal, which is made from oat groats. There are a number of different ways of preparing oatmeal, such as grinding, steel-cut, crushed and rolled. These different ways also tend to result in a product with different cooking requirements, so care should be taken that the muffins are cooked in the correct way.

Before cooking, other ingredients can also be added, and after cooking, the muffins can then be decorated or topped.