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.
Best chocolate chip muffin recipe ever!! I have been using this recipe for over a year now and always make the mini ones which everyone adores!! I put some white chocolate chips on top for a little more chocolate. Thank you for this awesome recipe !!
You’re very welcome, Clarissa! I’m happy you enjoy the muffins so much and thank you for the rave review!
Made these this morning. I am impressed. Usually the mini chips don’t work but in this case they are perfect. I will be using this recipe as a base for other muffins as well. They came out exactly like the picture which is rare for most recipes. Thank you for sharing!
You’re very welcome, Joanne! I’m happy they exceeded your expectations. Enjoy and have a great week!
I have made lots of muffins in my time but these where fantastic, they had risen very high and tasted amazing. My new muffin recipe. Thank you.
You’re very welcome, Vanessa! I’m glad you liked the muffins so much. Thank you for your lovely comment:)
Hello: I’m Angela . I am very confused. In the video the muffins are made with milk, in the recipe, calls for buttermilk? Which one is the right recipient. Thanks
Hi Angela,
You can use any kind of milk for this recipe. Homo and buttermilk is best. I hope that helps and please feel free to reply back if you have any other questions.
Best chocolate chip recipe EVER! Been trying to find a great recipe & you are the winner! So good & what difference using mini chips. My entire family loved them & declared me I finally found a winner. Thank you!
You’re very welcome and thank you for your kind words, Beth! I’m glad you finally found a winner, lol.
Love this recipe. I did modify a bit as my grandson is fussy and I wanted to add some other mutinous items. As a milk substitute, I used a half cup of 2% vanilla Greek yogurt and a half cup of 1% milk to thin it out. I used olive oil instead of butter. Lasted I added 1/3 cup of hemp hearts. I soaked these in the liquid mixture while a prepared the dry. They passed the test!!
These turned out amazing. I rushed through and accidentally tossed the sugar in with the rest of the dry ingredients but they still tasted wonderful. I didn’t fill the tins fully and got almost 2 dozen good sized muffins out of it. I’ll definitely turn to this recipe in the future.
I made half the recipe simply as a test–which gave me 8 muffins using a portion scoop. This is truly a fab recipe. I did decrease the sugar by 1/4 cup and swapped out some chocolate chips for white–only because the white choc chips I have are slightly expired. The result a crunchy top, moist inside, and not too sweet considering the amount of chips that was called for. This is a keeper recipe. I did have all my ingredients are room temp. I noted now fluffy the batter was too. Thanks for sharing this delish recipe!!
You’re very welcome, Margaret! I’m glad you liked it and thank you for your kind words.
Is it possible to make 6 muffins. I only have 1 6 muffin tin?
Sure, simply divide the recipe in half.
I love your recipes, I love how you consider that a recipe that calls for chocolate chips don’t need alot of sugar, brilliant! I always adjust the sugar in most recipes I try, your recipes are just perfect! Thank you for sharing. This recipe is awesome, fluffy and flavorful, I even made these with orange extract instead of vanilla, the combo of orange and semi-sweet chocolate is heaven 😊
Aww, thank you Lois for such a lovely review! And great idea subbing the vanilla with orange extract for a chocolate orange flavor!
Such an amazing recipe. I’ve been looking for a good chocolate chip muffin recipe that was similar to the Muffin Break in the UK and this one it’s definitely it. I only change one thing, i swapped 1/2 cup of plain flour with wholewheat flour. Very delicious!!!
Thank you for your kind review and great tip on the substitution!
Delicious muffins! Love this recipe
Just made these and turned out extremely well. Much much much much much much (this is not a typo) better than the last time I tried to make chocolate chip muffins. Soft, sweet and just perfect. My boyfriend has already eaten 3 (somehow even though they’re quite big) and they’ve been out of the oven for approximately 20 minutes.
Hi Jasmine,
I’m so glad you and your boyfriend enjoyed the muffins. Thank you for your wonderful review and have a great day!
Hello, I just have a normal egg ! For 2 large egg. I put 3 normal egg?
Hi Elyes,
Just use 2 normal eggs. Enjoy the muffins and have a great week!
I would love to make these, and freeze them for about a week. Do you think it would ruin them? Thanks!
Not at all. These muffins freeze well. Let me know if you have any other questions and have a great day!
Hey Lily!
I had a quick question before I made this recipe. I want to make mini muffin versions of these. In your recipe, you advised first baking the muffins at 475F for 5 minutes and then down to 375F for another 12-15. In the notes section, you advised mini muffins should just be baked for 10-12 minutes at 375F.
I just wanted to confirm – I don’t do the temperature change at all for the mini muffin version? Just pop them in the oven at 375F for 10-12 minutes?
You are correct, MJ. Just bake them at 375F for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!
Hey Lily!
Thanks for the quick reply! I made the recipe this evening and it was great! I was worried at one part, as I hadn’t thought to take out my buttermilk earlier from the fridge, so when I combined it with my room temperature melted butter, the butter reformed into little cold shards. But it still turned out great! I just tried to gentle whisk and reheat it very slowly for a bit and then just went forward with the recipe anyways.
It made 36 delicious little muffins – I’m definitely keeping this recipe for the future. Thanks for your help!
My pleasure, MJ! I’m so glad you liked it. Thank you for your lovely comment and have a wonderful day!
I’ve made these so many times and they always turn out amazing! Can I add cocoa to them for chocolate chocolate chip muffins?
Thank you again for your kind review, Jennifer! If you’re looking for a double chocolate muffin, try this recipe https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/double-chocolate-muffins/ It’s just as good but more decadent:)
These turned out amazing! I am dehydrating some raspberries from our plants and am excited to try swapping out the chocolate chips for a mix of raspberries and white chocolate chips.
Thank you for sharing your recipe!
You’re very welcome, Cara! I love the combination of raspberries and white chocolate – great idea!
Nice big muffins, dense structure for spreads without falling apart. i didn’t change a thing! I’m going to try another from this recipe collection. Probably tomorrow at the rate these are disappearing!
Thank you, Gail, for your kind review! Try the bakery-style blueberry streusel muffins next as they are also a fan favorite:)
Hey Lily, thanks for sharing this recipe..
We all loved how it is and especially my 4 years old.
I love how it is not too sweet and I will keep making these muffins for the future.!!!
Thanks(^-^)/
You’re very welcome, Yumika! I’m glad you all loved it, especially your 4 year old as kids can be the most honest critics. Thank you for your kind words.
These smelled so amazing baking but turned out just ok.
It has made much more batter than 12 muffins. Not sweet enough at all for me. I checked them just short of twelve minutes and they were overdone done by at least a minute or two. I followed recipe to the T. Not sure what happened and I know I’m in the minority 🙁 Thanks anyway.
Hi Jennifer,
Sorry to hear that the muffins were just ok. This recipe is designed for 12 large “bakery-style” muffins. So if you divide the batter into more than 12, then each muffin will be smaller than intended and take less time to bake. As for the sweetness, well that’s a matter of personal preference. Most people like the recipe as is, I’ve had some readers reduced the amount of chocolate chips or sugar for their own liking. If you want it sweeter, you can simply add more chocolate chips, or sugar, or both! I hope that helps and thank you for your honest review.
Hi. Can I use Bevel margarine instead of butter? Don’t have butter. Thanks!
Hi Lynda,
You’re better off substituting with vegetable oil. I have no idea what Becel margarine is like melted.