It's blueberry season, and these muffins are legendary. Just be sure to follow the recipe.

Gail Ciampa, Providence Journal
·3 min read

Can we talk baking for a few minutes today? I know it's hot, but we have local blueberries for such a short time we have to make the most of it.

One of my neighbors came to dinner with a large container of blueberries he picked on his land. The next day I pulled out my Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin recipe. This is from a long-gone New England department store that had a food department and bakery in the downtown Boston store that was a legend. (I also worked in that store, in the mailroom, which was behind the Oriental rug department. That was legendary, too, with its characters.)

It still surprises me when I read over the official recipe, shared by a baker at the store. That's because you preheat the oven to 450 degrees. A steady 350 degrees usually steers the muffin ship.

The Jordan Marsh Blues Blueberry Muffin survives the end of the Boston-based department store.
The Jordan Marsh Blues Blueberry Muffin survives the end of the Boston-based department store.

I always do what the recipe says, which in this case is to cook the muffins at 450 degrees for five minutes. Then you turn the heat down to 375 degrees for the remainder of the bake. If you use the big, juicy highbush blueberries and make regular-size muffins, I find the total bake time is 20 to 30 minutes. If you use wild blueberries, the time is less, more like 20 minutes. If you make mini muffins, total time can be as short as 15 minutes.

I started baking my most recent muffins before starting a day of remote work. I needed to write my weekly newsletter, so I was sort of rushing. I put a small loaf pan of batter and a pan of mini muffins into the oven. By the time I filled another tin with mini muffins, I had already turned down the heat to 375 – a big mistake.

I had a beautiful rise and dome on the first pan. The second pan, denied the high temperature, gave me flat muffins. That is why you follow the recipes. Nothing good comes from cutting corners in baking.

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Note the difference in dome in the first mini muffin, which was not started in a 450-degree oven, compared with the second two, which were baked in high heat for the first 5 minutes.
Note the difference in dome in the first mini muffin, which was not started in a 450-degree oven, compared with the second two, which were baked in high heat for the first 5 minutes.

Here's the Jordan Marsh muffin recipe.

The Official Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin Recipe

½ cup shortening (see note)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup milk

1 pint blueberries (about 2¼ cups)

Sugar for top

Note: Shortening may be all vegetable solid shortening, all butter, all margarine or a 50-50 blend. I think half Crisco and half butter works great.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Clean and rinse blueberries.

Beat shortening with sugar and vanilla until well mixed. Beat in eggs. Mix dry ingredients and mix in alternately with the milk. Fold in blueberries. Batter will be on the heavy side.

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Grease muffin pans well and lightly flour them. Grease the top of pan, too, as muffins will peak and cause a mushroom effect on top. If pan top is not greased, muffins can stick.

Fill muffin cups to top. Sprinkle sugar liberally on top of each batter.

Bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Lower heat to 375 degrees and bake an additional time, until golden brown. The recipe calls for 30 minutes but it is far less than that for most ovens. Start checking after 15 minutes for regular-size muffins and less for minis. Cool and remove from pans.

Makes 1 dozen regular-size muffins, or 24 minis, depending on your tin.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin recipe perfect for RI-picked blueberries