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! Thanks so much, they are perfect, your recipe is easy to follow!❤️✌️😊
You’re very welcome, Jennifer! Enjoy the muffins and have a great weekend:)
I made these muffins for my French class and they are fantastic! I used a regular cupcake-sized pan for this recipe and baked it at 375 for 14 minutes and they turned out great. It makes 24 muffins if you use a cupcake pan.
I’ve been baking these regularly for the past few years for my 3 young boys . We all love them! Sometimes I like to substitute half a cup of regular flour for almond flour and it works out well.
I am also grateful for the generous yield, especially with mini muffins. They last for most of the week 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing !
You’re very welcome, Tamar! So happy to hear you and your boys love them:)
I can freeze these right? I made a double batch and now thinking holy crap we cant eat all these lol
Yes, you can freeze them. Enjoy! (at your own pace, lol)
These are amazing! Definitely the best muffins I’ve ever had
Can I substitute honey or maple syrup instead of sugar for this recipe?
Maybe a 1/4 cup but no more than that or the muffins will turn out heavy and gummy.
I really want this recipe to work out, but it’s not and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’ve made them twice with the same results. Although the flavor is nice, they are heavy like paperweights with lumpy looking tops.
I followed the recipe exactly. The eggs and milk were at room temperature. I barely stirred just to combine the wet and dry ingredients and I followed the baking instructions. After lowering the oven to 375 I baked them for 13 minutes.
Any ideas of what I’m doing wrong? Thanks.
Hi Dana, it’s hard for me to say since I wasn’t there with you to see what went wrong, but it sounds like perhaps the batter wasn’t mixed well enough causing the lumpy tops. Did the muffins rise at all? If you have, you can send me a picture to lily@littlesweetbaker.com If I can see what it looks like (inside and out) that will help me better figure it out. Thanks
This recipe makes 24 cupcake sized muffins, what are you smoking saying 12?! This makes WAY more than 12. It makes 24.
I’m not smoking anything. This recipe makes 12 bakery-sized muffins which are twice the size of a cupcake because of the large muffin tops. Anyway, I hope that helps!
Can I use salted butter?
Yes, you can:) Enjoy!
Can I use 2% milk?
Yes, you can. Enjoy the muffins!
I even use 1% milk, put 1tbsp lime juice to sub the buttermilk, it turned out perfect for me!
How long can you leave leftover batter in the refrigerator?
For this recipe, it’s best to bake it right away.
I have made these muffins now 4 times and each time they come out perfect and get rave reviews at work. I follow the receipt to the letter weighing out all ingredients.
Can I use 1% milk?
Yes, you can:)
Just made these for my son this week, he’s been wanting muffins, and I never like buying them. This recipe is Amazing!
So yummy, everyone loved them, definitely making them again.
I’m making these tomorrow!If I wanted to turn them into blueberry muffins, would I just sub for chips?
Also, did you use mini chips?
Yes, or you can use this recipe https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/bakery-style-blueberry-streusel-muffins/
This is the best muffin recipe I’ve ever tried! I knew they’d be incredible when I saw 1 tbsp of vanilla and again when I smelled the batter. After one bite I said “yep, this is the only muffin recipe we’ll ever need” lol
I agreee!!! O my i just finished baking it, followed it to the tee except i put in mini muffin tray, and baked at 375. Turned out gooodd. It is the best ive met so far, because i love the crispy/crunchy top muffins. Thank you so much!
You’re very welcome, Diana, and thank you for your kind words – much appreciated!
I find the oven part a bit confusing, but the recipe was really straightforward! I added a mini marshmallow in the center of each muffin, and I’m waiting as the muffins are baking right now!
This is one of my go-to recipes. I am a bit sensitive to the taste of the baking powder (things have this slight metalic, bitter aftertaste) so I tried reducing it to 1/2 a tablespoon and the recipe still turns out fine.
These are delicious! The baking time is very different for Utah elevation, however, as I found out! I haven’t figured out the right temperature yet, but I’m going to make them again and experiment!
Am going to try this over the weekend and come back with the outcome but I believe it will gooood
awesome! looking forward to your feedback:)
I absolutely love this recipe ! I’ve made it a bunch of times and it’s a favorite in our family. I’d like to change things up a bit and add banana to the recipe. Is it possible ? If so, should I reduce the amount of buttermilk so it doesn’t have too much moisture ? Thank you !
It is and yes, you should reduce the same amount of milk, or you can try this recipe https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/banana-chocolate-chip-muffins/
Enjoy and thank you for your kind words!