I've got blueberries on my mind lately. Certainly because it's that time of year - summer, when fresh berries and berry desserts take center stage, particularly around the 4th of July. But beyond that, I've got blueberries on the mind since getting back from a short road trip to Maine. There, it was a constant lookout for wild Maine blueberries in every form - from donuts, to ice cream and lemon tarts!
Though there are no wild Maine blueberries to bake with at home, I made do with the usual garden variety. And the easiest way I can think of to bake with blueberries is certainly in muffins. It's lucky that I happened to have spotted "Jordan Marsh's famous blueberry muffin" recipe from i am a food blog not long ago and vowed to give them a try.
I'd never heard of Jordan Marsh until spotting the recipe but I now know it was a popular department store based in Boston until the mid-90's. These muffins were served on the top floor of the department store and deemed "the best" by many. I've been disappointed more than a few time when it comes to my hunt for bakery-style muffin recipes but it truly pays not to give up because I finally found a winner (and I'm doing the happy dance)!
So I wanted to post this gem of a muffin recipe. It turns out some lovely bakery-style muffins, which I think of as soft and tender yet hearty muffins that sport a signature slightly-domed, golden brown top. Now these are the muffin tops I've always wanted! A sprinkle of coarse sanding sugar before baking accentuates the crust. I just adore these golden craggy tops with its crisp crust.
And the crispy top and edges (which taste remarkably like Danish butter cookies) give way to soft, moist, cake-like muffin studded with juicy blueberries in the center. All that and these muffins can be mixed together by hand very quickly. I'm glad I didn't give up my search for bakery-style blueberry muffins. i am a food blog tweaked the recipe to make a banana chocolate chip version, which I'm more than willing to try. In fact, I might have to do some experimenting of my own because this base recipe, and the results it produces, is too good not to daydream about.
Temps were much cooler when we were up in Maine but we've been having a serious heat wave back home in NJ. Even with the heat, I still can't resist turning on the oven and baking. It was definitely worth it in this case!
