This post is about a vintage classic, the Jordan Marsh blueberry muffin. But before we get to baking, we need to talk about the golden days of Boston’s Downtown Crossing.

Boston’s Downtown Crossing shopping district was the home of two behemouth department stores, Filene’s and Jordan Marsh. For more than a hundred years, the two competing stores were situated on adjacent parcels, separated by a single street. Both flagship stores are gone now, in name and in location, replaced with new residential and commercial buildings that are infusing new life into a part of Boston that had tarnished with age.

The main draw of Filene’s was underneath the flagship store– the legendary and appropriately named Filene’s Basement. Do not confuse the original with the chain of mall stores of the same name. Filene’s Basement was part retail, part free for all. Deals on fine quality merchandise could be had if one had sharp eyes and sharp elbows. Tables of merchandise were pawed over, you needed to be quick and you needed to visit regularly because merchandise changed daily. And if you wanted to try something on, you did it right there in the aisle.

Across the street, the main draw at Jordan Marsh was their cafe with its legendary blueberry muffins. There are a plethora of recipes circulating the internet that claim will make the real Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin. All of them likely make perfectly good blueberry muffins. But as luck would have it, I crossed paths with the daughters of the man who was the lead muffin baker for Jordan Marsh. They know the real muffin recipe. And this is it…as given to a local Boston TV reporter by the man himself.

Blueberry muffin from the Muffin House Cafe in Medway, MA. Closest muffin to the true Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin available from any bakery.

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin Recipe

(as told to WCVB reporter Maria Stephanos)

1/2 cup butter

2 cups flour (unsifted, blend of bread and pastry)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups blueberries

2 teaspoons sugar (for tops)

1 teaspoon vanilla

On low speed, cream butter with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix until blended. Sift dry ingredients; add to eggs-and-butter mixture, alternating with milk. Mash 1/2 cup of berries and stir into mixture by hand. Add the rest of the berries whole and stir by hand. Grease muffin tins well with butter; grease the top surface of the pans as well. Pile mixture high in each muffin cup, and sprinkle the sugar over tops.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

We know this is the real recipe because 1) it came from the man who made these muffins for 45 years; and 2) the instructions tell you to mix in the berries by hand. What it doesn’t mention is that the muffins were also dropped into the tin by hand. (The daughters were very clear about this.)

The WCVB interview has a videos showing technique. They use a muffin scoop, but we know that’s just for the optics. Not everyone wants to see a baker up to their wrists in the batter of the muffins they plan to eat.

The daughters also let us in on another secret. If you’re in the Boston area, The Muffin House Cafe in Medway makes blueberry muffins that their dad has proclaimed as close as possible to the original Jordan Marsh muffin. The Muffin House Cafe was featured on a local foodie show, the Phantom Gourmet. This video clip shows the “muffin man” using the true by-hand muffin blending and scooping technique.

Filene’s and Filene’s Basement are just happy memories for those who were lucky and brave enough to shop there. Jordan Marsh is gone too. Boston’s Downtown Crossing is evolving, as parts of great cities do. But those Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins? They are immortal, a beloved recipe that will be passed down through generations. They are the very definition of a vintage classic.

For extra credit

Famous Department Store Muffins recipe from King Arthur Flour.

Jordan Marsh’s Blueberry Muffins from The New York Times Food section

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins: History and Recipe from Yankee magazine

If you are a blueberry fan, you might like this vintage recipe for blueberry crisp.

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