Jordan Marsh’s Blueberry Muffins
Updated Nov. 13, 2023
- Total Time
- 40 minutes, plus at least 30 minutes' cooling
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ½cup softened butter
- 1¼cups sugar
- 2eggs
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2cups flour
- ½teaspoon salt
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- ½cup milk
- 2cups blueberries, washed, drained and picked over
- 3teaspoons sugar
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375.
- Step 2
Cream the butter and sugar until light.
- Step 3
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Step 4
Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk.
- Step 5
Crush ½ cup blueberries with a fork, and mix into the batter. Fold in the remaining whole berries.
- Step 6
Line a 12 cup standard muffin tin with cupcake liners, and fill with batter. Sprinkle the 3 teaspoons sugar over the tops of the muffins, and bake at 375 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.
- Step 7
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.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Toss the berries in flour before adding, to keep them from sinking to the base of the muffin.
The original John Pupek recipe, which I have used for years, calls for 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp.salt, and he includes 1 tsp. vanilla as well. I don't know why the recipe above makes the salt optional. Salt is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer, and if it is left out of baked goods, the final product will not taste right.
I would recommend adding a teaspoon of cinnamon and, MOST important, a tablespoon of lemon zest (thanks to Mark Bittman). Also I would use much less sugar -- I find that half a cup is enough, or three-quarters tops.
I made a half batch (~8 muffins) and they were gone within six hours. I live alone. Despite my substitution of GF flour and a few mistakes, these are hands down the best blueberry muffins I've ever made.
I make these regularly at the inn where I am the cook. Some adjustments that really work (some echo others here): european butter, buttermilk instead of milk, reduce sugar to taste, add one teaspoon vanilla, (sometimes i add lemon zest), wild maine frozen blueberries instead of fresh, and sprinkle with brown or turbinado sugar before baking. Foolproof recipe.
From Sam Sifton on the site newsletter: to help keep your blueberries from sinking to the bottom, "John Pupek, [Jordon Marsh's] head baker, long retired, told WCVB's Maria Stephanos to toss the berries in flour before adding them to the batter. The coating helps suspend them better during cooking so you don't get as much sinkage."
To create muffins that rival the originals, cover the tops with a full teaspoon or more of sugar before baking. This produces the crispy tops that some of us remember from Jordan's. You can watch the original baker in this video: http://www.wcvb.com/news/legendary-boston-baker-shares-recipe-techniques...
How bizarre to see this today since I just used the original Jordan Marsh recipe to make 4 jumbo-sized mega muffins yesterday. The differences? No liners used, muffin tins buttered inside and on the perimiter of the wells, 1/2 cup more blueberries; 1/4 cup less sugar in the batter. For mega-muffins, baked at 350 for 40 minutes. They're outstanding!
I reduce sugar in everything by half, never miss it + fruit is sweet
take the flour to toss the blueberries from the 2 cups so as not to add extra flour to the recipe and leaden the final product.
re "optional" salt, i think it's because many home bakers use salted butter and therefore, the extra salt isn't necessary.
I almost wept with joy when a friend walked into my house and said, "I baked blueberry muffins--the Jordan Marsh recipe." I grew up with those, and even though she cut back on the sugar and didn't sprinkle sugar on the top, they were incredible (and she promised to follow the recipe exactly the next time!). I don't know what this nonsense about Ritz-Carlton muffins is all about. Never heard of those. Tea at the Ritz. Muffins from Jordan Marsh. Everyone knows that.
i made this recipe twice. once as written (with wild organic blueberries) and the second time i omitted the vanilla and added grated lemon peel from a medium lemon. the addition of lemon peel brought the recipe to life. it is so simple to make and this has become my go to blueberry recipe.
Cooking at 8,000 feet required the following mods: 1tsp baking powder, 3/4 cup milk, 3 additional tbsp flour, oven at 400F, reduced time to 25 minutes.
Like most others I made these and love the way they turned out! I also decreased the sugar to one cup, but may go to 3/4 cup next time. Unfortunately I didn't read the notes about making sure the unmashed berries be bone dry and coating them in flour, but they still turned out OK. One note I want to include for anyone who isn't a seasoned baker (because I just learned this in the last couple of years) is that in order to get the butter and sugar "light" you really need to beat it for 10 minutes.
Substitute Buttermilk for the regular milk for moist flavorful muffins
I don’t mean to be dumb but is that parchment paper rather than muffin cups in the photo?
Learn from my first mistake: I didn't have any liners and thought just greasing the tin super well should be fine. It was not fine. Every one stuck and had to be pried out in sad pieces. I like the texture of these muffins a lot, but gave it 3 stars because the flavor is just average. I wish I had listened to my impulse to reduce the sugar and add some cinnamon or something. They aren't bad. They just aren't quite living up to the hype for me. I would make them again, but with a flavor boost.
Somehow I always end up with a dozen muffins plus enough batter to make a mini loaf. No complaints, because these are the best blueberry muffins I've ever made. Sprinkling sugar on the tops before baking is a must.
These muffins are my go to for baking! They are so delicious!
i echo adding zest from one lemon. i also think the salt could be bumped up to a teaspoon of using unsalted butter.
Excellent results…light, moist and perfect!
Instead of 1/2 cup milk… 1/4 cup sour cream 1/4 cup milk
The crushed berries do not turn the batter purple. I felt that my muffins came out to white, actually! I’d really encourage bakers to use liners in your muffin tins — I used freshly picked berries and greased the tin but the berries were so heavy that a lot of the muffins felt apart when removing them from the pan. Tastes really nice though, however. I agree with the many commenters that recommend reducing the sugar; 1 1/4 C is a lot especially when dusting the tops with more sugar.
Unless my muffin tin is smaller than standard, I feel that this recipe makes more than 12 muffins. More like 14-15 muffins.
Use 3/4 cup sugar
I didn't have milk so I swapped it out for 1/4 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup heavy cream. I also added the zest of one whole lemon to the batter - and they came out perfectly! Sweet and tangy and just the right amount of density and moistness. 10/10!
The difference between a muffin and a cupcake is the amount of sugar. Some comments here suggest adding more sugar but that would turn the muffins into cupcakes.
I remember walking into Jordan Marsh and being greeted by the aroma of blueberry muffins wafting in the air. A great recipe and as wonderful as the original. I did reduce the sugar by half.
This was my first time making muffins of any kind. Really easy to follow. My family went crazy for these. I’ve been having a challenge finding something that my 88 year old mother would eat, thanks to this recipe she is back on track. Thanks!
I forgot a note, I realized after starting the recipe (I know, I know…bad form) I didn’t have any vanilla extract so I split sms scraped a vanilla bean instead… SOOOO good.
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