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.
Made the mini muffins these came out so good! No wonder reviews are all so five star. Thanks for a great recipe ..
You’re very welcome, Nina, and thank you for your kind words!
This is by far my favorite chocolate chip muffin recipe! It’s so tasty, not dry, easy to make and just like a bakery style muffin.
Very good recipe! Perfect amount of leavening, tops popped up nicely and inside was moist and fluffy. My three year old gobbled most of three of them before I could slow her down. She then ran around the house yelling: “KAY-EEEK” (cake) and “yummy”!
To make this into a cake like one poster asked it would probably be best to use a loaf pan, keep the high heat at the beginning and it would take longer. I think most quick bread loaf cakes take 50 minutes to a bit over an hour, you would have to keep at eye on it till the centre was done.
I’m a stay at home dad this week haha. First time I’ve made muffins without the store bought package. 10/10 would recommend. And easy too!
Wow, just wow!
Everybody told me it was the best muffins they had ever had.
Yummy and came out perfect. Nice and fluffy on top, kids loved them!
Hi, can i substitute the milk with low fat yogurt? If so, how much yogurt should I put in? Thank you.
Yes, I would suggest 3/4 cup yogurt mixed with 1/4 water to thin it out so the consistency of the batter is the same. Enjoy!
These are spectacular!
Hey, is there any way I can use veggie oil instead of butter and use an egg replacement instead of eggs. My son is allergic to dairy.
Yes, you can:) Enjoy and happy Sunday!
Thank you so much for this recipe. My muffins came out beautiful and they were delicious.
You’re very welcome, Romina! Enjoy and happy holidays!
Hi can I substitute chocolate chips for blueberries?
Yes, you can or you can use this recipe: https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/bakery-style-blueberry-streusel-muffins/
Fabulous recipe. I’ve made them so many times and they turn out beautifully every single time. I wonder if the same batter can be used in a cake mould to create a cake rather than muffins?
Yes, I don’t see why not. Now the only thing I would suggest is for a cake, I would bake it at a lower temp, like 350F, the whole way through. Enjoy and happy holidays!
Love this recipe. Thank you for sharing
You’re very welcome, Noel!
Hi! I’d like to make these as mini muffins this morning this morning for church and wonder whether the cooking time and temperature will change. Any hints/advice? – Thank you!
Hi Yvonne, just bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Enjoy and happy Sunday!
These are my favorites. I can’t even count how many times I’ve made them. Delicious! But I got an email from Pinterest telling me they were removing the pin to them. The email said it was something to do with the person who originally uploaded the pin, and I’m sure I just pinned it from there awhile ago. So now I pinned it from here using your Pinterest button, so I hope it doesn’t go away, because these are the best. Thanks!
Aww, thank you for your kind words, LeAnn. I’m so happy to hear that these are your favorite! Yes, some of the pins got removed from Pinterest because they were directing to Target for some reason???
Second time making these and they are FANTASTIC. This time, I used 2 Tbsp of vanilla and a pinch of extra sugar as I love them really sweet! I would recommend NOT using cupcake liners as these fill my muffin pan all the way to the top of the cups. The liners just take up much needed space. (Unless I just have a small muffin pan? Somebody let me know if they normally fill the entire cup please. Lol) These lasted barely an entire day in my house and my 4 year old goes crazy for them! Thank you for posting this recipe ❤️
You’re very welcome, Ally! And thank you for your rave review. xoxo
I added chocolate chips plus peanut butter chips to my muffins and my grandsons love them!
Made these muffins many times my grandsons love them I add half cup peanut butter chips along with a cup of regular chocolate chips really are tasty!
Awesome recipe! Everyone loved them! I will make them again!
They turned out to be so delicious. I’m gonna make them on repeat!
Love the recipe