These healthy Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins are egg-free, dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free and so much healthier than the recipe created for the famed Boston-based department store, Jordan Marsh. Not only dairy-free and gluten-free, but higher in protein and fiber, lower in sugar, this one-bowl recipe is still bursting with a light crumb and bold blueberry flavor!
Healthy Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
My healthy version of the famous Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins are made dairy-free, egg-free and vegan and yet still have the tell-tale huge dome muffin-top, delicate crumb and sweet streusel on top. How is it possible to turn these dessert muffins healthy? Read on and see!
These muffins, sooo delicious and with lovely dome, harken back to the early 1990s when a Boston-based department store - now bankrupt - shared their incredible recipe. As you can guess, that recipe is not vegan so I created a vegan copycat version right here!
What Are Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins?
Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins are fat, delicious blueberry muffins with a fluffy interior and a delicious crackle sugar top. The recipe was created by a chef at the department store - Jordan Marsh - which was based in Boston and filed for bankcruptcy in the mid-1990s. I grew up in the suburbs of Boston and my father, who worked in financial district in Boston, and used to bring home these muffins all the time!
So when I decided to make blueberry muffins for family this fall, I decided to make a healthy version of this wonderful department store muffin.
The original recipe has lots of non vegan ingredients which I swapped here for vegan, but it was most notable for the chef's techniques that kept the interior dry and fluffy, not soggy. And I'll share those techniques here too, along with some delicious vegan swaps to make these muffins vegan and gluten-free.
Blueberry Muffins with Sugar Streusel Muffin Top
My muffins differ from the famed Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin recipe in another way. They are topped with a sugar streusel topping that is white and sugary and fluffy and probably not that healthy, haha.
But I love streusel on my muffins so I made them this way. You don't have to. The original Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins just had a sprinkling of sugar on top. Your choice! But I'm going to share my streusel sugar topping recipe and technique anyway.
Ingredients in My Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
Okay so here is a quick rundown of the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe. Did I mention it can be made in ONE BOWL! Easy clean up people!
Flour - Obviously. I tried this recipe with both all purpose AND again with a gluten-free version with Bob's Red Mill's 1 to 1 gluten-free baking flour. They tasted the same! So if you want to make these muffin gluten-free, use Bob's baking 1-to-1 or your favorite GF flour close to that one.
Sugar - Again, obvious. I used organic cane sugar. Many of my recipes last year used coconut palm sugar which is slightly healthier with more essential nutrients. However, this year I wanted to add to my blog more recipes that use the more typical ingredients you might find in your pantry, whether vegan or not. So I am using organic cane sugar, looking for brands that are organic, non-gmo and fair trade so workers who process this sugar are not exploited. This year I found that brand, Wholesome.
Butter - I used a vegan butter, brand Earthbalance. It worked perfectly but if you are not vegan and can use regular butter, that will work too.
Aquafaba - this is what I used to replace the one egg in the original Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin recipe. It is the liquid from a can of chickpeas (or white beans). Three tablespoons can be used to replace one egg in any recipe. I used it not whipped and at room temperature. (Aquafaba is often whipped like a meringue in some recipes but you don't have to do that here to mimic an egg.)
Blueberries - of course! You can use either frozen or fresh in this recipe. An important technique used in the Jordan Marsh recipe is to add some blueberry pulp to the batter to add moisture. That sounds familiar to me! I am always adding veggie pulp to my baked goods here, and here and here so adding berry pulp sounded awesome and works!
The other ingredients are typical, including vanilla, baking powder, salt and milk.
How to Make Healthy Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
Preheat the oven at 400 F. This high temp is temporary.
Next, make the streusel first and freeze it while you make the muffin batter.
Finally, make the muffin batter in ONE BOWL people. But don't just throw those blueberries in.
Here is one of the tricks of the Jordan Marsh recipe: Toss the blueberries - fresh or frozen - in flour. I actually used fresh because I'm thinking frozen might cause flour clumps from dampness but others said frozen works too. The flour is meant to help the blueberries remain dispersed evenly throughout the muffin.
Then fold those berries in.
Gently fold in the blueberry puree so it's streaky.
Fill the cupcake wells, pack on the topping and put them in that hot oven.
Lower the oven to 350 F and bake for 20-25 minutes. The streusel will have dry and wet patches, and the edges of the muffin will be a brownish tinge.
Tips for Healthy Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
1. Use fresh blueberries and toss them in flour before putting them into the batter.
2. Make your streusel first and put it in the freezer while you make muffin batter. If you want to set aside streusel for longer than half an hour, don't freeze, just refrigerate.
3. For streusel, be sure your butter is chilled, not softened, certainly not melted.
4. Fill your muffins to the top and then add your streusel. To be sure your muffin tops don't stick to the pan, be sure to grease the TOP of the pan.
Test Your Baking Powder & Baking Soda
The number one reason baking recipes fail is dud baking powder or even baking soda. To test them, pour ¼ tsp baking powder in a glass of water and ¼ tsp of baking soda in a glass of white vinegar. Both should create fizzy bubbles if they are fresh. If not, toss them and buy new versions.
More Healthy Baked Desserts You Might Like
Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts & Muffins
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Healthy Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
Muffin
- 1 cup all purpose flour or Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten-free baking flour.
- ¼ cup butter softened or room temperature
- ⅔ cups organic cane sugar
- 3 tbsp aquafaba liquid in can of chickpeas; this replaces one egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ cups fresh blueberries
- 3-4 fresh blueberries crushed with fork
Streusel
- ½ cup all purpose flour or Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten-free baking flour.
- ½ cup organic cane sugar
- 3 tbsp butter softened
Instructions
Prep
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Grease the top surface of the 6-well cupcake pan (so muffin tops don't stick). Then line the cupcake pan with paper liners.
- Crush the 3-4 fresh blueberries with a fork and set aside.
- Toss the ½ cup of fresh blueberries in flour and set aside.
Make Streusel Top
- Make the top first and freeze while you make muffins
- To do this, use a fork to mix the flour, sugar and butter together into a crumbly mixture. Don't thoroughly cream it up. Instead, let chunks of flour and butter be visible.
- Put bowl in the freezer (or refrigerator for more than half hour) while you mix up muffins.
Make Muffins
- In one large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until combined.
- Add the 3 tbsp of aquafaba, mixing it into the batter while adding.
- Add vanilla.
- Sift in flour, salt, baking powder. Add the milk.
- Mix this mixture until creamed together.
- Add crushed blueberries into batter and fold in but don't mix in thoroughly.
- Fold floured blueberries into batter as well.
- Fill each cupcake well with batter nearly to the top.
- Sprinkle and lightly pack on the streusel topping.
- Put muffins in the oven and lower heat to 350 F. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Storage
- Store the muffins in a sealed container for 24 hours at room temperature if you want. The tops begin to moisten however. So within a day, put them in the refrigerator for a week or longer frozen.
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