Jordan Marsh’s Blueberry Muffins

This recipe came to The Times in a 1987 article by Marian Burros, "The Battle of the Blueberry Muffins." Two years prior, Ms. Burros wrote about a recipe for the muffins attributed to the Ritz-Carlton in Boston.

The hotel had adapted a recipe used by Gilchrist's, once one of city's best-known department stores. After it ran, a reader wrote in to say that the best blueberry muffins in Boston were not from the Ritz-Carlton, but from the now-closed Jordan Marsh department store. She sent along the recipe, with a description of how she picks wild blueberries: standing in a pond in the August heat and plucking berries from bushes along the bank.

This version has a lot more sugar and butter and fewer eggs than the Ritz-Carlton muffins. The recipe also calls for mashing a half cup of berries and adding them to the batter. This produces a very moist muffin, one that will stay fresh longer.

INGREDIENTS

• ½  cup softened butter
• 1 ¼  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 sugar

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Cream the butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar until light.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.
4. ..................................

for full recipes please see : cooking.nytimes.com

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