BoomerGirl Diary

When I was younger and my parents and their siblings would get together, they would always talk about the past. A theme I noticed was closed department stores. They’d talk about places that they used to shop at when they were young and how they couldn’t believe the stores weren’t around anymore. From when I was a kid through my twenties, I found the whole thing quite strange. What kind of stores were these that they were all gone now? They couldn’t have been as great as they seemed to think. Obviously these were some messed up stores or they would still be around now. Right?

Wrong. Now I know what they were talking about, because both Filene’s and Jordan Marsh are gone. Poof! Corporate decision. Gone. These were both great local stores. Times change, businesses close and one day you realize that all the stores from your youth are gone.

Most of my memories are associated with some sort of food. You want me to remember something? Feed me. I have distinct memories of Jordan Marsh cardboard boxes tied with string and filled with blueberry muffins. I can see the store muffin display in my head and I can smell them. Mostly because I just baked them and my apartment is now blueberry muffin scented.

For those of you who may have never tried the muffins in the downtown Boston store or cooked them at home, here is the recipe with some very slight changes. Although the original recipe calls for it, I don’t top my muffins with sugar. They are sweet enough without it. Enjoy!

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins

(12 regular sized muffins)

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt (optional)

2 tsp. baking powder

2 cups blueberries (washed + drained)

Set aside 3 tsp. sugar for topping.

Combine butter, sugar, and eggs in medium bowl. Stir in salt, baking powder, flour, and milk. Crush 1/2 cup blueberries and mix into batter. Add remaining whole blueberries. Combine, but do not mix too much.

Grease muffin pan or use paper muffin cup liners. Pour batter into muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool 30 minutes before removing. Store uncovered, or muffins will be too moist the next day.