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.
Great recipe ! Muffins came out very moist and delicious 😊
Just made these. My first time ever making a muffin or really any sort of baking from scratch. Followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect! Thank you so much!
I made those but used frozen blueberries instead and they are amazing!!
Made these with milk chocolate chips and worked amazing, but made with white chocolate chips and they came out really sticky can you help?!
White chocolate can be sticky after it has been melted. It depends on what it’s made with. Perhaps try a different brand next time. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFIN RECIPE EVER!!! I have tried so many over the years and this one is by far the best. Don’t even bother looking at another recipe. Thank you so much for sharing, Lily! xoxo
You’re very welcome, Rudy! Thank you for your rave review:)
Just tried this and these muffins were amazing! I followed the recipe exactly, subbing the buttermilk for milk with lemon juice. It was perfect. I will make these again and again!
I’ve made them a few times several years apart and they are always good. I use flax seed meal instead of egg and they are excellent. My family loves them!
I’ve made this recipe several times over…. Chocolate chips, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips, chocolate chunks with pieces of fresh cherries, fresh diced peaches and white chocolate chips… My family inhaled all of them! Such an easy recipe that can be altered to use whatever variety of ingredients that sound good! This recipe completely changed how I make muffins (sorry Betty Crocker recipe- you’ve been replaced)!
These were the best homemade chocolate chip muffins I have ever had. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
This is the best muffin recipe hands down. I’m continuously making this. Thank you very much for sharing the recipe. I add a little bit of orange zest to amp up the vanilla and chocolate. My 2 year old eats 2 mini muffins in one sitting.
You’re very welcome, Farin! I’m glad your little one enjoys them and great idea adding the orange zest.
I’ve used this recipe numerous times now and absolutely love it!! To make it a bit less sugary the last time I made these, I halved the amount of sugar and chocolate chips, and the muffins came out just as delicious. They are perfectly fluffy on the inside and a bit crunchy on top. Thank you for this recipe!
These came out perfect! I even had to make my own buttermilk. Great recipe!
Amazing recipe, made it twice so far and loved it.
Hi,
I haven’t tasted my muffins yet…but after coolong them and removing them from the pan , more than 1/2 of the muffin the chocolate chips remained in the pan!
What did I do wrong?
Hi Kathleen,
Sorry to hear that happened. Did you toss the chocolate chips in the flour mixture to coat them or did you fold them in at the end?
Help!! My egg mixture came out very lumpy. What did I do wrong?
I would just keep going and hopefully it will come together when you mix it with the dry ingredients.
Out of this world. My kids enjoyed making it, in addition to eating everything!
Thank you.
You’re welcome! So happy your kids enjoyed it. Thank you for your lovely comment:)
I love this recipe! I have been making these for the last 2 years!
What’s the best way to double it and maintain the texture…
You can double this recipe, just make sure you don’t overmix to ensure the same texture.
Hi, i saw in the video that you used both spatula and balloon whisk for stirring- is it all right if i use only a spatula as I do not have a whisk?
Also, if my muffin tray can only fit 6, can I leave the remaining batter out and bake it only when the 1st batch is done?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Kay,
Yes, you can use a spatula or even a fork to “whisk” the ingredients together. I’m not sure what would happen if you left the batter out that long or what would happen if you put it directly into a hot pan. Cutting the recipe in half to make only 6 muffins might be a better option.
Made this for a birthday treat and, they loved it! Of course, saved some for me too and gosh, so so tasty!!!! Thank you for this recipe.
You’re very welcome, Penelope! Thank you for your lovely feedback:)
Amazing recipe, thanks for sharing. I followed it to the tee but I didn’t have buttermilk, so just added the vinegar to full fat milk and it worked a charm! Kids gobbled 6 muffins in the space of 10 minutes! Thanks a million!
You’re very welcome, Diana! I’m thrilled your kids loved the muffins so much and thank you for your wonderful comment:)
I’m planning on making these soon but I was just wondering if there is a certain type of salt that is suggested?
You can use any kind of salt. I hope that helps and enjoy the muffins!