The Discontinued McDonald's Bakery Item That Was Inspired By Seinfeld

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We could wax poetic about muffins all day long. While cake is life — and make no mistake, we love cake — muffins are the portable version, so easy to munch in the car or when you're otherwise on the go. There may be many a list of unconventional cooking uses for muffin tins, but we personally use them as intended, which is to make dozens of delicious muffins. Some folks, like the fictional Elaine Benes from the hit 90s TV series "Seinfeld," will avow passionately that the muffin top is the best part, going so far as to only eat that part of the muffin. In 2018, McDonald's took a gamble on the notion that the general public would be overjoyed by the thought of isolating muffin tops, and rolled out the McCafe Muffin Toppers in several nationwide test markets.

Muffin Toppers came in three beloved bakery flavors: Lemon poppy seed, double chocolate, and blueberry. With no more than 160 calories apiece, they were a relatively virtuous way to get your morning going. McDonald's hoped that the muffin tops would revive its flagging line-up of breakfast offerings. That dream didn't come true, however, sales were sluggish on Muffin Toppers, and the chain 86'd them a short year later. Now, the petite muffin tops are just a bullet point on the list of discontinued McDonald's menu items we're glad disappeared, because, in our humble opinion, eating only half a muffin is a silly waste of time.

McDonald's was undoubtedly banking on the cuteness of Muffin Toppers to blind you to the fact that you were being fed an unsatisfying load of sugar. According to social media, the muffin tops were sold in pairs, unless you wanted to seriously overpay for just one muffin top. Two muffin tops is a 320-calorie "meal" that includes a ton of sugar and carbs with virtually none of the all-important protein or fiber that you count on to satiate you for the day ahead. A sugar crash can negatively impact your whole day by making you feel sluggish and unmotivated. An Egg McMuffin, on the other hand, packs a sturdy protein punch for 310 calories that, while still low in fiber, will help start your day with more lasting energy. 

A nugget of possibly-unrelated information: In the mid-2010s, Eggo removed its frozen Mini Muffin Tops, stating on X that they "did not have enough fans and were discontinued." Perhaps the world is just really overestimating the appeal of this quirky product, fueled by retro sitcom nostalgia. If you really crave the tops, you can actually buy a Walfos silicone muffin top baking pan and go to town. Meanwhile, McDonald's teases us with clues on X that seem to indicate the return of all-day breakfast, but never actually follow through, proving that maybe its high-paid market research team has failed to actually discover what faithful customers really want.