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.
What did I do wrong? They are very pale in color
Was it cooked through but just the top was pale? if that’s the case then your oven heats from the bottom, and if you have a fan or convection option, use that for the last 5 minutes to brown the top. I hope this helps and the muffins still tasted great!
Am about to make these, but am hesitant on the vanilla extract. A Tbsp? Really? I’m not sure if I’ve ever used that much in any one recipe. Just want to make sure it’s not a typo
Hey Stacey, it’s not a typo. The extra vanilla gives it that true bakery taste, but you can reduce it to 2 tsp if you are not comfortable using that much. I hope you enjoy the muffins!
i tried this recipe and it worked perfectly !! they taste so good too😁 10/10 would recommend this recipe !
Seems a little silly to comment after so many others but after trying other recipes involving creaming or beating the butter or mixing some ingredients for a certain amount of minutes this turned out to be quick and easy and the end result had a better texture. It was less heavy and more what I would expect a muffin to be like. I added some black raspberries to the chocolate chips. This is a first rate recipe – thank you!
Thank you for your comment Jill, and the black raspberry chocolate combo sounds amazing!
hi dear, may i substitute sugar to brown sugar ?
Yes, but just note it will darken the batter and change the flavour of course.
Hi! Would this recipe also work for mini muffins? Worried that I’ll have too much mix left over. Thank you!
Yes, but it would make 2-3 dozen mini muffins, depending on how much you fill. Enjoy!
This recipe was delicious! It was so easy to make and I loved it!
Delicious
Lily,
These muffins are insanely good! Made them in a pinch for breakfast and all 3 little ones (ages 7, 4 and 1) are raving at how tasty they are. From scratch, quick, easy and taste incredible. What more could you ask for?! Thank you so much!
P.S. Would subbing blueberries for chocolate chips be ok? Maybe adding them at the end instead of with the dry mix? I definitely plan to make these in the future, but was thinking some variety to change it up.
Just saw the blueberry recipe! That will be next!
Awesome! I hope you and the little ones enjoy them just as much and thank you for your wonderful review!
This recipe is perfect! I’m very new to baking, but this recipe was easy to follow and tasted awesome! Thank you so much for this!
You’re very welcome, Macayla! Enjoy the muffins and happy baking:)
I found this recipe this morning and baked it before lunch, I used regular 2% milk, and on the 2nd batch I added chunky sugar on top, and they turned out so delicious! Definitely a recipe I am keeping in my book 🙂
These are so easy. No mixer. No whisk. Just used a fork and a spatula to mix.
They are fantastic. You made a 6-year old so happy!
Aww, I’m so happy to hear and thank you for your kind words, Bebe! Enjoy the muffins with your little one:)
Absolutely delicious! I made 18 muffins from this recipe cause there was extra, but they were scrumptious!!
Just made these for a work brunch for tomorrow. Of course hubby and I had to test one( we shared one) and the results were amazing!! So moist and delicious, I will definitely be making these for our two weeks at the shore . Lily , your recipes are the bomb .
Aww, thank you for your rave review, Dawn! Enjoy the muffins and have a fabulous time at the shore!
Great advice and super yummy
I always wondered how others got the crispy dome on their muffins. Thanks to your recipe mine turned out both picture perfect and delicious!
You’re very welcome, Hilary:) Thank you for your kind words and enjoy!
These are absolutely delicious. Crispy top, moist inside. I used a mix of dairy milk and oat milk. I was out of unsalted butter so I subbed salted and cut the salt down by 1/4 tsp. A really solid recipe. I highly recommended measuring in gram weight. It makes a big difference. in the final product. Thanks!
They are so so good thank you for sharing the recipe
You’re very welcome! Enjoy and happy baking:)
Third times a charm!!! this was a perfectly balanced muffin. not dense not too fluffy where it falls apart. I will be making this each time.
I have made this recipe twice now and both times they have turned out fantastic. This is one for the recipe file. Thanks for an easy, grat tasting muffin recipe.
You’re very welcome and thank you for your kind words!