The Best Blueberry Muffins

And their curious origin…

Photo credit: Aimee Tucker

If there’s one breakfast pastry that gets my attention every time, it’s a good blueberry muffin.

Not just any blueberry muffin from a box mix or a jumble of mini-muffins cranked out by the machinery of a cold, unfeeling food conglomerate.

No, I’m talking about a firm yet spongy number bursting with ripe and juicy blueberries, crumbly yet moist, with the crunch of pearl sugar on top.

And I’ve got the recipe for you.

Interestingly, this recipe didn’t originate in a bakery with one of the great pastry chefs, but in a department store.

“A department store?” I hear you saying. “Why would a department store sell blueberry muffins?”

There’s an interesting history here that’s Classy AF.

Back in the age before Amazon ruined modernized the shopping experience, city department stores were a Big Deal.

In the early 20th century, department stores sometimes occupied as much as entire city blocks and were many stories high. Shopping once was much more than just buying, and children and their families dressed up to head into town for the experience.

That experience meant that not only could shoppers find what we typically expect to find in department stores today (clothing, jewelry, shoes, and perhaps cookware), but furniture, rugs, draperies, stationery, art supplies, framing, candy, books, paint and wallpaper, gardening supplies, toys… and a restaurant or lunch counter.

Over the course of decades, these temples of commerce became a tangible part of the lives of their customers, where memories were often made.

And before the age of franchising, every major city had a department store of their own: Filene’s and Jordan Marsh in Boston, John Wannamaker in Philadelphia, Marshall Field & Company in Chicago, Hudson’s in Detroit, and the many that dotted Manhattan (Bergdorf Goodman, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bonwit Teller, to name a few).

Filene's, Hudson's, Donaldson's, Marshall Field's, Wannamaker's, and Macy's

I’ll bet you had a favorite near where you grew up. What was it? What do you remember about your experiences there?

And if you’d like to reminisce, check out The Department Store Museum for more.

Anyway, that recipe.

It came from none other than Jordan Marsh in Boston.

Jordan Marsh was Boston’s first department store, and at one time, its largest. Its origins date back to 1841, when Eben Jordan opened a dry goods store and later partnered with Benjamin Marsh.

The Jordan Marsh “Main Store” was located at 450 Washington Street, which now houses Macy’s. A plaque commemorates the historic site.

In 2023, Mara Richmond of Burlington, Vermont, wrote to The New York Times with the secret of the recipe. She said her father, Arnold Gitlin, then the executive food consultant for Allied Stores, which owned Jordan Marsh at the time, developed the recipe.

According to her, he adapted a recipe from Esther Howland’s The New England Economical Housekeeper, and Family Receipt Book from 1847.

There are two secrets to this recipe that make it special: you mash a half cup of berries and add them to the batter. This produces a very moist muffin, one that will stay fresh longer and that distributes the blueberry flavor throughout the muffin.

The other is the use of pearl or cane sugar for the topping. The larger and solid granules of sugar resist melting in high heat and leave a satisfying crunch on the muffin tops.

While you can’t get these at a department store any more, you can certainly try them at home on your own, either for yourself or when you’re expecting company.

They’re a delightful treat any time you choose to make them.

You might say they’re Classy AF.

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup softened butter

• 1¼ cups sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 cups flour

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• ½ cup milk

• 2 cups blueberries, washed, drained and picked over

• 3 teaspoons pearl sugar

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Cream the butter and sugar until light.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.

4. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk.

5. Crush ½ cup blueberries with a fork, and mix into the batter. Fold in the remaining whole berries.

6. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with cupcake liners, and fill with batter.

7. Sprinkle the 3 teaspoons sugar over the tops of the muffins and bake at 375 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.

8. Remove muffins from tin and cool at least 30 minutes. Store, uncovered, or the muffins will be too moist the second day (if they last that long).

Sources

Jordan Marsh’s Blueberry Muffins by Marian Burros (New York Times Cooking, November 13, 2023)

“Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins | History & Recipe” by Aimee Tucker (NewEngland.com, April 21, 2022)

“Confessions of a Marsha Jordan Girl” by Ann Hood (Yankee Magazine, February 8, 2012)

The Department Store Museum (check out the store directory and then navigate through the archives by date in the sidebar for an alphabetical listing by state)

The World of Department Stores by Jan Whitaker (Abebooks)

Filene’s: Boston’s Great Specialty Store by Michael J. Lisicky (Amazon | Bookshop.org)

Jordan Marsh: New England’s Largest Store by Anthony M. Sammarco (Amazon | Bookshop.org)