THE FAMOUS JORDAN MARSH BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Me: "What would you like for breakfast?"

Him: "A piece of toast."

Me: "Toast! I think we can do better than that!"

The muffins are a clone of "The Famous Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins!" These muffins were indeed famous up until the mid-1900's when Jordan's, one of Boston's two iconic department stores was purchased by Macy's. The other infamous store was Filene's. 

Since the bakery closed in the early 1990's, the blueberry muffins have became the focus of much lore around the Boston area. A December 2004 Boston Globe article said, "For decades, any decent downtown shopping trip ended at Jordan Marsh, where the promise of a sugar-crusted blueberry muffin could make annoying children angelic.

After the store's closing, former Jordan Marsh baker, John Pupek, opened the Jordan Marsh Muffin Company in Brockton, Massachusetts. The company made thousands of blueberry muffins a week, as well as other delicacies made famous by Jordan Marsh. Although it closed in 2004, Pupek still owns the Jordan Marsh Muffin name. As of 2004 his muffins were still sold at Macy's in Portland, Maine where Pupek's former co-worker leases the bakery and bakes muffins from frozen batter that Pupek sells her.

The Recipe

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh preferred

1/4 cup sugar, for topping

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin; or line the tin with papers, and grease the papers.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl and beating well after each addition.

Beat in the baking powder, salt, and vanilla.

 Add the flour alternately with the milk, beating gently just to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.

 Mash 1/2 cup of the blueberries. Add the mashed and whole berries to the batter, stirring just to combine and distribute.

 Scoop the batter by the heaping 1/4-cupful into the prepared muffin pan.

 Sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar atop each muffin, if desired. It's traditional — go for it!

 Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes, until they're light golden brown on top, and a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.

 Remove the muffins from the oven, loosen their edges from the pan, and after about 5 minutes transfer them to a rack to cool.

Estelle’s Sweet Tip: 

These muffins are incredible! 

This will be the recipe of choice!