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.
I can’t wait to try these. I’m also wanting to do a regular banana muffin. Can I use this recipe , or how would I modify it to add in the bananas?
Hey Lisa, I don’t know how this recipe would modify into banana muffins, but here is a great recipe for a simple banana muffin http://www.everyday-reading.com/2014/12/everyday-banana-muffins.html?m=1 Thank you for your comment:)
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe!!!! I haven’t found a recipe that will give me the full muffin top effect lol! My kids love it too! We are on our 3rd batch in 2 days!! 2 blueberry and now a chocolate chip one….yum!! Thank you for the recipe!!
Wonderful to hear Krista! Thank you for your lovely comment:)
any thoughts or suggestions about using muffin liners/cups?
Hi Alexandra, any kind of paper liners will work with this recipe, enjoy:)
Hi Lily, I was just wondering if the salt is a must, and if the muffins are suitable for freezing. Thanks in advance!
Hey Stephanie, salt is not a must, but it really does elevate all the flavours and yes, the muffins are suitable for freezing, enjoy:)
Hello Lily, Thank you for sharing the recipe. How many small eggs should I use instead of large eggs and can I use full cream milk as a substitute of buttermilk? Which milk will taste better?
Thanks!
Hi Samantha, 3 small eggs is about equivalent 2 large eggs and yes, you can use homogenized milk in this recipe. As for which taste better? I prefer buttermilk, but both are good. Enjoy!
Hello from Singapore. I am goig to bake this tomorrow. Just some questions. If i plan to use salted butter for this, do i need to eliminate anything such as the salt? Also i will be putting the batter in a muffin paper cup, can i also fill the batter to the brim?
Hi Fadhilah, if you are using salted butter then eliminate the salt in the recipe and yes, you can fill the batter to the top of the paper liners. Enjoy!
Hi, I would just like to know if it is possible to use this muffin mix as a cake mix? I really want to make a chocolate chip cake but everytime the chips sink to the bottom. Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Samaiyah, I’ve never tried it myself, but from what I’ve read you can convert a muffin recipe into a cake, you just have to adjust the baking time. Generally I would bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes. Let me know what size cake you would like to make and I can be more specific. Thank you for your question:)
Hi there
I made these muffins today and they were delicious. They were not super moist however they were super fluffy and tasty. Did I maybe do something wrong or should I try something else to make them more moist. I used regular 2 percent milk as that is all I had. Other them that I followed the recipe exact.
Thanks again for this delicious recipe 🙂
Hi Stephanie, perhaps try sifting your flour and use buttermilk next time. If you don’t normally buy buttermilk, you can make your own by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to a measuring cup, then filling it up with milk to make one cup, stir and let stand for 5 minutes. Thank you for your comment:)
this was so amazing! my toddler helped me make them and she couldn’t stop spooning the batter into her mouth! they baked up beautifully and taste amazing! simple and easy too! thank you
You’re welcome Christina, I’m glad you and your little enjoyed them as much as we do. Thank you for your lovely comment:)
Thank you for this perfect recipe!
We all enjoyed them ..especially my grandsons.
Aww, that makes me happy to hear that your grandson loved the muffins. Thank you for your comment:)
These muffins are amazing. I followed the recipe exactly except I used half buttermilk and half 2% milk. They turned out perfect and absolutely delicious. I’ll definitely be tuning in to more of your recipes. Thank you so much!
You’re welcome Leanna and thank you for your lovely comment. Have a wonderful day:)
Hi, if I follow the recipe, excluding the choc chips, will they still come out good ? Or will the ratio be thrown off?
Hi Zaki, the recipe will still work, but without the chocolate chips, they will just be plain muffins. Unless that is what you are looking for?
Followed the recipe exactly (using buttermilk) and they couldn’t have been more perfect! Gorgeous with a lovely crumb and beautiful rise. This is my new muffin base! Thanks for sharing!!
You’re welcome Carrie and thank you for your lovely comment. Have a great weekend:)
Everywhere has left such amazing comments that I can’t wait to make these. However, I am in the UK and have no idea about cups and conversions and really don’t want to mess up this recipe. What would the weights be in grams for the dry ingredients and millimetres for the wet ingredients? Please. Thought it best to ask a professional rather than mess it up!
Hi Hannah,
Here are the ingredients in grams and milliliters:
325 g flour, 15g b powder, 5g b soda, 2.5g salt, 114g butter, 200g sugar, 2 large eggs, 250ml milk, 15ml vanilla, 270g chocolate chips
Let me know how it turns out for you. Enjoy:)
Thank you. Is that 15ml vanilla essence?
yes, vanilla essence.
Love this recipe. Made them today and was skeptical about putting all the dough into just 12 reg muffin tins. Now I wish I would have trusted you. The one that I did fill really full was nice and tall, moist and good. The extra, what I thought was extra, I put in a jumbo tin and it just takes too long to bake. The tops get really brown. I will definitely make these again. Oh and I used dark chocolate. I probably will not do that again. They are a little bitter for my taste. Milk chocolate or semisweet would be awesome. I want to try again and maybe substitute berries. What do you think is this a good base for fruit muffins? Or do you have a great fruit muffin recipe? Thank you they are a huge hit at work.
Hi Kristi, try this fruit muffin recipe http://littlesweetbaker.com/2015/02/13/bakery-style-blueberry-streusel-muffins/
It is very similar to the chocolate chip one and my readers love it just as much. Thank you for your feedback and enjoy:)
These were delicious-I followed the recipe but sifted my flour and used a TBSP of vanilla-my family LOVED them!!!! I cannot wait to try your blueberry ones next!
Awesome, happy to hear your family loved them. Thank you for your feedback Samantha:)
indont usually leave comments but I have to! These are FABULOUS!! The only change it did was used one egg and 1/4 applesauce because I only had one egg left! These are perfect!! Thank you for sharing!!
Hi Becky, thank you for your lovely comment and good to know about the applesauce as a substitution:)
These were absolutely wonderful muffins! They’re perfectly sweet with a lovely texture. The only changes I made were to substitute oil for the butter (but I know they would be even better with butter!) and I used 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Thank you for sharing this! 🙂
Hi Kristen, so glad to hear you enjoyed them that much, thank you for your lovely comment:)
I’m in the UK. I made these following the instructions to the letter as far as I could. I used cups to measure etc but I found the muffins tasted quite strongly of baking soda and baking powder. I wonder if our products are stronger? Also the muffins fell over and didn’t grow tall with a crunchy top 🙁 I probably will try again, but will tinker with quantities…
Hi Alison, you’re right, products can vary slightly from country to country and even to brand to brand. In regards to the batter falling over, perhaps reduce the amount of milk to 3/4 cup to thicken up the batter. Try that and let me know how it turns out after you make your adjustments. Thank you for your feedback:)
Hi,
I have made these muffins twice now. The first time I accidentally put the wrong amount of milk in and the muffins came out tough and dry. However, after realizing and correcting my mistake, I must say that these muffins were a delight and my family adored them. Thank you for your amazing recipe!! Keep doing what you do (:
Awww, thank you for your feedback and kind words Memoona, have a great weekend:)
I made these yesterday…Supermoist and perfectly sweet. I used the mini chocolate chips, too. Somehow I didn’t notice the part where I should bake at 425 for 5 minutes, so I didn’t get the crispy top, but they were great just the same. I will try that next time. Family loved them, too, which is key b/c I hate store-bought due to all the added chemicals and what not. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ann Marie, you’re welcome and thank you for your lovely feedback. I’m the same way about the store-bought stuff. Don’t like the idea of preservatives and stabilizers in my food.
I bake muffins quite often, but I saw this recipe on Pinterest and had to give it a try. I am AMAZED! These are, hands down, the BEST muffins I’ve ever made. I followed the recipe exactly and could not believe how nicy they turned out. Tall and crispy with a beautiful cakey crumb…. Thank you so much for the recipe. This will be my go-to recipe from now on!
Hi Sandi, thank you for taking the time to leave such a lovely comment. I really appreciate it:)
most amazing chocolate chip muffins i ever had!!!
Thanks Shilpa, I’m glad you enjoyed them:)