It’s the height of the holiday baking season. That usually means sweet indulgences. No complaints there, but sometimes not everything should be sweet. Take the American muffin. It’s gone on a sugar binge that mirrors the American waistline.

After wondering what happened to the muffin of not THAT long ago, the muffin of the last century, actually, I did some research and wrote this story, which was published in the Boston Globe today: “Whatever Happened to the Great American Muffin?”

And here, available to DCCC readers only, are two supplements to the story: 1) The Muffin Timeline and 2) an insider look at what happens to failed muffin recipes that don’t make the cut.

The Muffin Timeline

1994

The Original Muffin Top Pan, produced by Chicago Metallic Co., hits markets.

1997

The crunchy muffin top is celebrated in the Seinfeld episode “The Muffin Tops.”

2000

Magnolia Bakery cupcakes are featured in an episode of Sex and the City, helping extend the nation’s fixation on cupcakes.

2000

Levis Strauss introduces low-rise jeans.

2003

The expression “muffin top” is used to describe the bit of exposed body fat that pops out above low-rise jeans when worn by all but the thinnest people.

2008

The saying “muffins are just ugly cupcakes” is coined.

2011

The euphemistic definition of the term “muffin top” is added to Oxford English Dictionary: “A roll of flesh which hangs visibly over a person’s (esp. a woman’s) tight-fitting waistband.”

What Happens to Failed Muffin Recipes?