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.
Absolutely wonderful. Purely the best xx
Hiya, this looks delicious! Trying to reduce the amount I go to the shops at the minute, would self raising flour work instead of all purpose? I also have caster sugar and light brown sugar but no granulated, just want to know before I go and buy, thanks!
yes, you can use self-raising flour, just omit the baking powder and salt. I recommend sticking with granulated sugar for this recipe. I hope that helps and stay healthy!
Baked this during the pandemic because I was craving a bakery-style chocolate chip and true to the title that’s exactly what they look like smells like and tastes like! My daughter was lured down from her bedroom by the smell of baking muffins. She took one look at them and said, “Wow, they look like they came from a bakery!” And then the greatest compliment of all, she took out her phone and took a picture!
Crunchy top, dense middle … I used the sour cream and water combination and it was just the right amount of sweetness. A keeper of a recipe! Thank you so much little sweet baker!
Aww, you’re welcome Mirriam and thank you for such a lovely comment! I’m so happy about the high compliment from your daughter. Take care and stay healthy!
Hello, love these muffins turned out perfect! How would i go about making these double chocolate chip muffins? Add cocoa? How much would i add?
Thank you for your kind words and I actually have a double chocolate version of this https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/double-chocolate-muffins/
I hope you enjoy it just as much and keep well!
Going to make these tomorrow! Can these be frozen? Please reply before I bake them tomorrow 😊
Yes, they can. They actually freeze very well. I hope you enjoy the muffins and keep well!
Phenomenal ! I used the buttermilk tip in the notes section and it came out great
Made these muffins as per recipe! Made buttermilk with the vinegar and they are absolutely delicious!
I absolutely love this recipe and the tips given
Can this recipe be made in jumbo muffin pans? If so, how long should I bake them?
Yes, this recipe can be made in a jumbo pan. Bake them for an extra 10- 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Enjoy and keep well!
Hi there! This recipe looks amazing, i actually only have cupcake tins at home – i was wondering how you would adjust the temperatures/baking time in order to not over-cook them if i made them in a smaller tin?
So looking forward to trying this out!
Thanks heaps
Most cupcake and muffin tins can be used interchangeably. If there is a noticeable size difference, still bake at 425F for 5 min, then just reduce the 375F bake time to maybe 10 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean. I hope that helps and happy baking!
Hi, can i replace it with cake flour? Do i still need to put baking powder and soda if i replace it with cake flour?
Yes, you can replace it with cake flour and yes, you still need to use baking powder and baking soda. I hope you enjoy the muffins and stay well!
Can you sub buttermilk with sour cream?
You can substitute the buttermilk with 3/4 cup sour cream plus 1/4 cup milk or water. I hope that helps and keep well!
If you would allow 10 stars that would be my score. 10 out of 5. These never fail to please (me) and others 🤣☺️.
Totally great.
Thank you so much for your rave review, Dana! Enjoy the muffins and stay safe!
Still one of our faves…I have to make 2 batches, one for our daughter who is vegan and one for us 🙂
Can I use gluten free flour instead? Thanks!
Yes, you can use gluten-free flour. I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill GF 1 to 1 baking flour with great success. Enjoy and stay safe!
The muffins look so good! Can I bake this without the chocolate chips? Also, will it be too sweet with the amount of sugar and chocolate chips? Can I reduce the amount of sugar?
Yes, you reduce the amount of sugar if you’re making it with the chocolate chips. And yes, you can make it without the chocolate chips (keep the same amount of sugar) and substitute it with blueberries or something, or else it will be kind of plain. I hope that helps and stay healthy!
I was wondering about how many mini muffins you would get.
About 4 dozen. I hope you enjoy the muffins and stay well!
I believe I followed the recipe to a T but they came out flat across the muffin pan. They didn’t poof up at all! Any idea what went wrong? The flavor on the other hand is amazing! Side note: I filled the pan to the very top, could that be my issue?
I’m sorry your muffins didn’t rise. Usually, when I see this happen, it’s because the batter was too thin. Try reducing the milk to 3/4 cups and that should fix it. Let me know if that helps!
Hi! Love your recipe❣️But i want to ask if it’s possible to replace the all purpose fluor to whole wheat fluor? Thanks!
Aww, thank you for your kind words. You can, but the texture won’t be as soft and fluffy. I personally would only replace half of the AP flour with WW flour. I hope that helps and have a great day!
Hi! Can I replace the 1cup sugar with honey or maple syrup and have the same result as these? I made your double chocolate and banana nut muffins and my family love them. Love your recipes because they’re easy to make and not too sweet. Thank you for your lovely recipes.
You’re very welcome and thank you for such kind words! Replacing the sugar with honey or maple syrup will not give you the same results. You can either reduce the sugar or amount of chocolate chips if you want it to be a bit healthier and/or less sweet. I hope that helps and please feel free to reply back with any other questions. Take care and have a great day!
I made these for my family for breakfast/snacks and they were delicious! I accidentally forgot the eggs, and they still tasted amazing. Really recommend. I might half the sugar next time because they were very sweet for my likings.