The inspiration for this post came from some immersion on my part into New England fare. As a part of some work for Edible Boston, I’ve given great attention to the eating traditions and quirks of the surrounding region around Boston. One such colloquial snack is the Jordan Marsh blueberry muffin.

Jordan Marsh was a local department store that was acquired by Macy’s in the nineties. Other than the usual history, I’ve been told that it had one special feature that set it apart from other department stores. The most delicious blueberry muffins.

After some poking around on the internet, I discovered that the recipe is coveted and has many people seeking out a copycat muffin to satisfy their cravings. One thing that most recipes have is sworn by a few old employees to be genuine. It’s an interesting twist to the blueberry muffin classic formula—crushed blueberries that get mixed into the batter in order to keep the muffins moister.

The way that works has to do with the sugar in the blueberries. The naturally occurring fruit sugar (fructose) in the blueberries incorporates into the batter and attracts water. It holds onto the water in the batter fairly strongly and prevents it from escaping, both in the oven and into the atmosphere once they’re baked and sitting on your counter. It’s an extra bump to help keep the muffins the best they can be.

Plus no one likes a dry muffin. Tragic.

Oh and the added flavor throughout is a little more delicious as well.

The remaining blueberries get folded into the batter like traditional muffin recipes. For the science behind a trick to that step, head on over this way.

But with that being said, I’ll leave you this recipe. I hope it makes you swoon even if you’ve never had the original Jordan Marsh blueberry muffin.

Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from NYT Cooking

Print Recipe

Makes 12

½ cup softened butter

1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (see note in recipe)

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup milk

2 cups blueberries, washed, dried, and picked over

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375° Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin cups.
2. In your stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and 1 ¼ cups sugar until light. Use a high speed.
3. Reduce sped to medium. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low.
4. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add to the batter alternately with the milk. I like to use three additions each here, starting with the flour mixture. Scrape the bowl, making sure to get the bottom, and mix on low to combine.
5. Separate out the blueberries into a ½ cup pile and the remaining 1 ½ cup pile in a medium bowl. Smush the ½ cup of blueberries together with a fork until pretty pulverized. Mix into the batter in the bowl.
6. Toss the bowl of 1 ½ cup blueberries with a tablespoon or two of flour. This helps prevent them from falling to the bottom of the muffin. Fold them in to the bowl of batter by hand with a rubber spatula.
7. Distribute the batter into the lined muffin cups evenly.
8. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of sugar over the tops of the batter.
9. Bake the muffins on a rack in the middle of the oven for 30-38 minutes.
10. Let the muffins cool in the muffin tin for 30 minutes. Remove them from the tin and enjoy!