Memories of My Youth

Memories of My Youth

For those of you who remember Jordan Marsh in Downtown Boston, the Bakery was a must stop when shopping in Boston.  I have fond memories of the smell of the bakery on the second floor.

The heat from the blower in the entry was tempering the cold air as the door opened. It was always a fight to open it because of the forced air.  Once you got into the store the aroma of the bakery overpowered the smells of perfume samples and hand creams.  The anticipation grew as I rode the escalator up, the hustle and bustle of the first floor disappearing and the sight of beautiful displays starting to appear as I rose up to view the second floor.  In my mind, I knew it was just one more turn to heaven, the bakery.  The cases seemed to be designed just for me.  My eyes parallel to the goodies on the shelves.  Like a child watching his first snow, I pressed my nose against the glass believing that I would have a better view the harder I pushed.  There they were, the Jordan’s blueberry muffin shining like the ice on the Boston Common ice rink.  They were mine!  After all the nicety, greeting and alike, the order was placed, and I saw the glass door in the back slide open and a hand reaching in to remove my dream, my own muffin!  

Jordan’s had their own classic way of putting the muffins in a crisply folded white box, folding the long sides down and encircling the box three times each way with a red and white string, tying a bow on top and then snapping the string.  The final step before it was mine.

These fond memories were recreated when I baked the Jordan Marsh Store’s Muffins from a recipe I found on the internet.  From that moment when they were baked, and the kitchen was full of the aromas of the past.  I recalled the  early memories of my encounters with the Bakery at Jordan Marsh

Thanks

Good Baking

Enjoy, Chef Frank

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Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh preferred

1/4 cup sugar, for topping

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin; or line the tin with papers, and grease the papers.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl and beating well after each addition.

Beat in the baking powder, salt, and vanilla.

Add the flour alternately with the milk, beating gently just to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Mash 1/2 cup of the blueberries. Add the mashed and whole berries to the batter, stirring just to combine and distribute.

Scoop the batter by the heaping 1/4-cupful into the prepared muffin pan; a muffin scoop works well here.

Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon granulated sugar atop each muffin, if desired. It's traditional — go for it!

Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes, until they're light golden brown on top, and a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven, loosen their edges from the pan, and after about 5 minutes transfer them to a rack to cool.

Yield: 12 muffins.