Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins (video)
A crispy, sky-high muffin top, full of chocolate chips, soft and buttery on the inside – a perfect way to start your morning!
I love enjoying a good muffin with a nice, warm cup of coffee, especially now that the fall weather is setting in. My favorite part of a muffin is the muffin top, that’s why I love bakery style muffins. Breaking off that large, crispy muffin top and taking that first bite is heaven to me. When I was a kid, I would only eat the tops of my muffins and it used to drive my mother crazy because she though it was so wasteful. But, the bottom just couldn’t compare to the top. This reminds me of that Seinfeld episode back in the 90’s where Elaine had the idea of a store just selling muffin tops. I know I totally dated myself with the last reference, but I hope some of you know what I’m talking about or else I’m just going to feel old and geeky.
Anyway, let’s talk baking science. The key to the perfect bakery style muffin is to have just enough leavening agents (baking soda and baking powder) to create that puffy dome when baking, but not so much that you can taste it. Baking at an initial high temperature will cause the air bubbles in the batter to expand even further. This will help give the muffin a soft and fluffy texture and also create the high rise. Using enough fats and liquids like butter, eggs, and milk, will make the muffins moist and rich. You also need enough volume of batter to fill the tins to the top. Lastly, and this is a tip in general for making soft and tender muffins, mix the wet with the dry ingredients until JUST combined. Over mixing will result in hockey pucks and you don’t want that. Everything else is a matter of preference in taste.
I used mini chocolate chips for this recipe because they disperse more evenly throughout, but you can use regular chocolate chips or chocolate chunks if you prefer. I also added some salt to enhance all the flavors. I used to shy away from salt, but I learned from watching Master Chef that it’s useful for more than just adding a savory taste, it also potentiates all the other flavors. I added 1 tablespoon of vanilla because I like vanilla in all my baked goods. It’s just one of those flavors that goes well with most things, and of course you need some sugar. I only used 1 cup of sugar for this recipe because the chocolate chips are already sweet. So, in a nutshell, that’s pretty much how I came up with the recipe.
Enjoy these fabulous muffins with your morning coffee and/or as an afternoon snack. They’re moist, fluffy, rich in flavor, loaded with sweet chocolate chips, and they’re so delicious, I promise you’ll want to devour the whole thing, not just the tops.
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: breakfast, snack
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
The BEST chocolate chip muffin recipe – soft, moist, fluffy, loaded with chocolate chips, and a perfect crispy sky-high muffin top!
Ingredients
- 2 & ½ cups (315g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp (13g) baking powder
- 1 tsp (5g) baking soda
- ½ tsp (2.5g) salt
- ½ cup (114g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (250ml) buttermilk (see notes for substitutions*)
- 1 tbsp (15ml) vanilla extract
- 1 & ½ cups (275g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray a 12 cup muffin tray with non-stick cooking spray or line with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla. Slowly add to the dry ingredients. Gently fold together until JUST combined.
- Divide the batter into the 12 muffin cups and bake at 425°F for 5 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and continue to bake for another 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake or the muffins will be dry. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and enjoy warm.
Notes
*You can substitute the buttermilk with any kind of milk. Even non-dairy milk like almond or rice milk works. Simply mix it with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to make 1 cup.
Muffins taste best the day of, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
For mini muffins; bake for 10-12 minutes at 375F only.
You might also like my Bakery Style Blueberry Streusel Muffins, Bakery Style Banana Nut Muffins, and Double Chocolate Muffins. Click here to see all muffin recipes.
We are mum and daughter baking team 🙂 tried your recipe today and for the first time ever have been successful when baking muffins. The taste is amazing and we will definitely bake again. Thank you so much, JoJo an
You’re very welcome, JoJo. I’m so happy to hear the recipe was a success for you:) Enjoy and thank you for your lovely review!
would you change anything in this recipe for high altitude? I’ve made them before closer to sea level and they were DELICIOUS, but now we live in Colorado and I want to make them again. Should I just stick to the original recipe or is there something else that I should do?
Hi Meg,
I had another reader from Colorado and below are her adjustments to a very similar recipe which worked out great.
*Decreased both the baking powder and baking soda by 1/2
*Decreased the sugar by 2 TBS
*Added 1 extra egg
*First, I baked them for 7 minutes instead of 5 at 425. When it was time to decrease the oven temperature, I lowered it to 375.
I hope this helps and I hope you enjoy the muffins:)
I have to say, that these muffins are the best I have ever made. Thank you so much for posting the recipe. The only change I made was that I sprinkled granulated sugar on top before baking.
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it and thank you for your kind words:)
Exceptionaly good muffins. Perfectly crispy on top and fluffy and light on the inside. I would definitely make these again. I ended up making 5 extra muffins (17 in total) though. I don’t know what happened but it’s not a problem because I just ended up with more!in the end! 🙂
Hi Alma,
Thank you for your kind review. I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins and even ended up with extras!
This recipe looks very good and based on the reviews I’m sure they are delicious! Is it possible to half this recipe or will it mess everything up?
Hi Nancy,
Yes it is possible to half this recipe. I’ve had readers do that in the past with great success. Please feel free to reply back if you have any other questions. Enjoy!
I never post reviews, but this recipe is wonderful. Rarely, does a recipe actually yield the amount that it states. This recipe does! 12 large, crispy top, fluffy inside muffins. Thank you.
You’re very welcome Karen, and thank you for taking the time to post such a lovely comment!
Question from an inexperienced baker here: do you remove the muffins after the initial 5min bake to allow the oven to cool to 375*? Or leave them in the oven and just reduce the temp?
Hi Liz,
You leave the muffins in the oven and just reduce the temp to 375F. I hope that helps and please feel free to email me back if you have any other questions.
I bake ALOT and this is by far my husband’s favorite muffin! Great job, this is amazing!!
Aww, thank you Rachel! That means a lot coming from a seasoned baker. I’m glad your husband enjoyed it, and have a great day!
After trying so many muffin recipes this one was the best! My husband said it was the best muffin he ever had and he’s had his fair share of muffins!
Lol, I’m glad your husband enjoyed the muffins, and thank you for your kind review!
Would this recipe work for mini muffins? How would you adjust the temperature or time in the oven?
Yes, for mini muffins bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!
An absolutely stunning recipe. Thanks so much for sharing! My muffins turned out perfectly.
You’re very welcome, Payton! I’m glad you liked the muffins, and thank you for your lovely review.
I just made these, they are SOOOO good! I accidentally over baked them my a couple minutes but they still taste delicious! 🙂
Aww, thank you for your kind words! I’m glad you liked them:)
I made this recipe one Saturday morning and they turned out perfectly! Now I am wondering if I can use as a base recipe for other mix-ins. I have some fresh raspberries and white choco chips but wondering if that will change how it bakes with the fresh fruit – any thoughts?
Thank you! These hit the spot in all the right ways and is definitely going into my recipe collection <3
Hi Michele,
Thank you for your kind words, and yes you can use this recipe for other mix-ins. Just fold in the raspberries at the end. Everything else remains the same. Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Hi, your recipe seems to be a good , tried and tested by many. I m new to baking, I would like to know whether it will be a good one for beginner like me.and u were refering about 425 F fr 5mnts in beginning. Is that the preheating time??
Thank you
Hi Indu,
No, you preheat your oven to 425F first (which will take about 15 minutes for your oven to reach that temperature) then you bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425F. Keep the muffins in the oven and just change the temperature setting to 375F and continue baking for another 12-15 minutes until done. I hope that helps and please feel free to email me back if you have any other questions. Enjoy!
What type of chocolate chips did you use? Semisweet or something different?
I used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips. Thank you for your question and I hope you enjoy the muffins!
These were amazing. I have never been able to successfully make muffins until this recipe!
Great to hear! I’m glad the recipe was such a success for you. Thank you for your kind words and enjoy!
Hi Lily! This may sound silly and I am pretty sure I know the answer to this question already but I just want to make sure.. When reducing the heat there’s no need to remove the muffins from the oven, is there? Thank you in advance for your reply! Have a great day!
Hi April,
Not a silly question at all. Yes, keep the muffins in the oven when you turn the heat down. Enjoy and have a great day!
I made these today and followed your recipe exactly as written. I was so pleased with them. They turned out exactly as shown :). My go-to chocolate chip muffin recipe from now on :).
Thank you for your rave review, Rebecca!
LOVE these! Have made them twice so far and was asked for my recipe the 1st time I shared. Definitely will make these over & over. I did find that I could decrease the amount of sugar by 1/4-1/3rd cup and decrease the chocolate chips by a whole 1/2c. They were a bit extra sweet (just like the bakery ones) as I aim to decrease my 6yo’s intake of crazy fuel just a bit while simultaneously avoiding meltdowns over “no seconds” 😉
I hear ya. I sometimes decrease the amount of sugar or chocolate chips for my kids as well. Thank you for your kind words and have a great week!
I don’t know if I’m just missing it, but I don’t see the measurement for the vanilla?
Oh my goodness! Thank you for catching that. I must have accidentally deleted it during my last update. It has been corrected. Thank you and hope you enjoy the muffins!