Daniel Ketchelos—Staff Writer

The sweet, savory taste of a chocolate-chip muffin is a part of my morning that I always look forward to. When I saw that Dordt’s F.L.A.M.E organization would no longer be serving this delicious morning treat, I was disappointed. Within a few days of the news, F.L.A.M.E announced that a new distributor would be providing chocolate-chip muffins to Dordt University. 

As an avid muffin enjoyer, I have gone to great lengths to get a delicious muffin. My worst experience in muffin-tasting was from a gas station in Nashville. Do not buy muffins from a gas station at midnight. Fortunately, the new chocolate chip muffins are leaps and bounds better than gas-station baked goods. 

The original chocolate chip muffin tasted great, but while the new muffin is still chocolate-chip flavored, there are some major differences between the two. The original chocolate-chip muffins featured larger chunks of milk-chocolate chips that provided a delicate balance between the bitter flavor of cocoa and the sweet flavor of sugar. While the original muffin tasted stale after sitting for a few hours, if it were consumed within an hour of being warmed up it tasted great. In contrast, the new muffin has smaller chocolate chips and is more on the bitter side than the original. While it does not taste bad, it lags behind in terms of flavor compared to the original.

The new chocolate-chip muffins have also increased in size. They resemble something to the scale of the large muffins you can purchase at Perkins, whereas the old muffins were more of a standard muffin size, similar to what you would expect your grandmother to bake. 

Edibility is another factor worth mentioning. When I purchased the original chocolate-chip muffins, I knew that it would not be hard to eat while in class. But, with the new muffin, I am less confidant. The combination of the new size and mini chocolate-chips creates the perfect storm in messy eating. The size factor requires the muffin be torn apart before eating, otherwise, you will smear chocolate all over your face. The mini chocolate chips also are prone to extreme melting when heated up, which causes your fingers to become dowsed with sticky milk chocolate. These factors make the new chocolate muffin impossible to eat without many napkins handy. 

While the new chocolate-chip muffin is not a perfect replacement for the old muffin, I am thankful to have the option of a chocolate-chip muffin still available on campus. The increased size of the muffin improves the ratio between Defender Dollars to muffin, which makes purchasing it feel like a better deal. The bitterness also helps to compliment a cup of coffee. I found in the past that the immense sweetness of the original muffin mixed with a Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino would be too much in the morning. 

While I do miss the original chocolate-chip muffin, I am very thankful that I can still get my weekly chocolate-chip muffin fix, even if it is more cumbersome to eat.