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.
amazing recipe!!
Perfect!! i have never ben to a bakery but i love muffins and these are the best ive ever had! the outside is crisp and the inside is perfectly most i love the texture  and i didn’t have buttermilk so i mixed whole milk and lemon juice and couldn’t taste the lemon at all So Good!!!
Made these at about 10:00 at night ended up with about 14 and the next morning I only have 4 left . Safe to say they were a hit. Amazing !!
They are definitely hard to resist fresh from the oven! Glad they were a hit:)
I saw these today, now they are in the oven, I’m sure they are going to be delicious 😋
Let me know what you think:)
Has anybody tried freezing these?Â
Yes, they freeze really well. Thaw overnight in the fridge or on the counter for an hour. You can reheat in the oven or microwave to warm up. Enjoy!
Will adding the vinegar alter the taste of the muffins? I am not a fan of the taste of vinegar but I don’t have buttermilk so I was just wondering if the vinegar will make the muffins taste like it?
The vinegar does not alter the taste at all, but if you’re hesitant about it, you can skip it. Enjoy the muffins!
Someone left a comment about using vinegar. I don’t see vinegar on the ingredient list. Am I missing something? And should I fill the muffin Tim all the way to the top? Thanksgiving k youÂ
The vinegar is for if you are making your own buttermilk (see notes section above) and yes, fill the muffin tin all the way to the top. Enjoy!
My boys enjoyed baking and eating these choc chip muffins very much. Moist n fluffy.
If you replace buttermilk with regular milk do you still need to add vinegar?
Up to you. The acidity makes the crumb slightly more tender. Either way, still delicious!
Can you substitute all purpose flour with self rising flour?
Yes, just remember to omit the baking powder and salt. Enjoy!
My son loved it!
I’m making for a math project (fractions). Love the recipe.
I followed the recipe exactly and they came out really big on the top. I wasn’t sure how much to fill each spot, and this was my first time making muffins from scratch. Haven’t tasted them yet but they look delicious, just really big on the top.
The big tops are the best part and are what makes them bakery-style. I hope you enjoyed them!
Delicious!!! I have made this recipe 4 times 😊 Moderation is the key to everything 💜Â
I am now a diabetic because of you-LOL The muffins were perfect with incredible taste and moistness–Keep up the good work
Everything in moderation and you should be fine, lol. Thank you for your kind words and enjoy!
I went with 1 cup of chocolate chips. I felt
like 1 and 1/2 is too much. Overall great recipe.
I used my standard muffin tin and I ended up with enough batter to make 24 muffins. Not sure where I went wrong, as I weighed all my ingredients. They look delish, though! Can’t wait to try one.
You probably didn’t do anything wrong. I’m assuming you only filled the muffins 2/3 full and not above the rim so that’s why you have double the yield. Let me know how they taste:)
Love this recipe, thanks for sharing.Â
You’re very welcome, Maria:) Enjoy and happy Saturday!
I made this just the other day and they did not last the night! So good. Makes me annoyed that Diane Morrisey on Instagram copied this recipe and didn’t even credit Little Sweet Baker.Â
this was yummy and fun to make (: