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
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12
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.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Category: breakfast, snack
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: chocolate chip muffin recipe, easy chocolate chip muffins, best chocolate chip muffins
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.
2,124 Comments on “Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins (video)”
These taste delicious, but didn’t rise? I’m in the UK and used my gas oven but the correct temp conversion, so I’m not sure what went wrong. Absolutely no dome, just a slight upwards height, and golden crunchy top.
★★★★★
Hey Courtney, sorry to hear your muffins didn’t rise. This can happen for a number of reasons like expired leavening agents or when the batter is too thin which is usually caused by the butter being too warm or too much liquid/not enough flour.
So easy and the kids love! Just tried this on 7 kids and chocolate was all over their face. Such an easy recipe , esp with the buttermilk substitute options. I’ve made this a few times and just needed to make sure i put in a review!!! Thanks for this recipe.
★★★★★
You’re very welcome, Linda! So happy to hear your kids loved it and thank you for your kind words:)
Wondering if this recipe can be made with different flours – almond, coconut, oat, etc.? If so, how would you substitute AP flour for a different kind of flour? I have a gluten intolerance and sadly out of GF flour but would love to try these with a different type of flour
Hi Nicole, if you want to make these GF, it’s best to use a GF flour mix like Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF baking mix or Robin Hood’s GF flour blend. Using just almond, coconut, or oat flour will lend to a denser more gritty texture. I hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions!
We use a convection oven at our facility. Should I use a different temp or cook less time so it will not be dry.
Reduce both temps by 25F so bake at 400F for 5 min then 350F for 12-15 mins. Check at 10 mins just in case.
The most delicious muffin I have ever eaten
★★★★★
Do you use convect air or just the bake function of the oven?
I always use the regular bake function. However, sometimes I will use the convection setting during the last 3-5 minutes to brown the tops if needed. I hope this helps and pls let me know if you have any further questions.
I followed your recipe and they were delicious!
Thanks for the great recipe 😊
You’re very welcome!
I just made your chocolate chip muffin recipe. Easy to make, they turned out great. Very fluffy and moist, and not too sweet. New recipe for my collection! Thanks.
★★★★★
You’re very welcome and glad you liked it!
I don’t know what went wrong, I followed directions, I’d class myself as a very good cook but these muffins had a terrible bitter taste to them. I checked the use by date on the buttermilk, smelt it, it seemed fine.
Embarrassing when I took to a function!
★
Hi Yvie, I’m sorry the muffins didn’t turn out for you. It sounds like you might have mixed up the leavening agents and accidentally used 1 tbsp of baking soda instead of baking powder giving the muffins a bitter metallic taste.
Phenomenal recipe! My muffins came out perfectly! I couldn’t believe it! I used the substitute of milk + lemon juice as well. Thank you so much! I will be baking these time and time again!
★★★★★
You’re very welcome! Enjoy and have a great week:)
They came out the oven about 30 minutes ago and I just ate one. Oh my goodness, they are absolutely delicious. This recipe is a keeper. I followed the exact instructions.
★★★★★
This recipe is perfection! A staple for lazy weekend mornings in our household! We have used it over and over. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Hi👋
So I’m slowly teaching myself how to bake. There are great, fluffy. But what can I do to make them a little less dry?
Hi, sounds like they might have been overbaked, so I would bake them for a few minutes less and that should fix it. Let me know if you have any other questions and I’d be more than happy to help:)
Sorry… I meant to ask about 1TBSP baking POWDER, not soda. Is that measurement accurate?
Hi Nikki,
Yes, that is correct. I know it seems like a lot but just trust the recipe. I promise the results will be worth it:)
Dear LSB,
I would like to make your BSCC Muffins. Is 1 TBSP of baking soda accurate? It seems like a lot of baking soda to me. Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Nikki
These look amazing! Smell delicious – first time making muffins. Also first time I’ve ever cooked with buttermilk. Does it cause small clumps when mixed with the other wet ingredients?
★★★★★
Thank you! Buttermilk is naturally a little lumpy, but perhaps it was cold when you added it to the other wet ingredients creating small clumps of resolidified butter.
Can dark brown sugar be used instead of granulated sugar?
You can but it will make the muffins darker in color and add a brown sugar taste.
I just made these and they are divine! I used the vinegar/ milk combo since I had no buttermilk and it worked perfectly. Definitely a keeper!
★★★★★
Can these be frozen for later?
Yes, they can be frozen for up to 3 months. Enjoy and happy baking!
I made these today and they came out amazing! They almost smell/taste like pancakes, but in muffin form. Highly recommend!!
★★★★★
Muffins are lovely… but no matter what I tried… they all stuck to the muffin tin and fell apart when removing!! Muffins became muffinbits!!
★★★★
Try using Pam’s baking spray. That’s what I use for most of my recipes. You can also use paper liners and just grease the rims.