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.
Dee-lish-us….😋 we loved these! Slight crisp outer crunch and perfect cakey middle. Soo good!
A great recipe. Baked exactly as the recipe calls for and the results were excellent. Moist and light and remained that way for two days – and then there were none left. This is now my “go to” recipe for chocolate chip muffins. Thanks for posting.
I’m so happy to hear and you’re very welcome:) Enjoy!
I was hoping to make 6 jumbo muffins instead of 12 regular ones. How would you adjust the baking time/temp? Looking forward to trying this
Same temperatures, just bake for an extra 10-15 minutes at 375F. Enjoy!
One of the best muffins made ever! Thanks for the wonderful recipe! May i know if they can be freezed to be consumed later?
You’re very welcome and thank you for your kind words. Tightly wrap each muffin in saran and place them in a large ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or on the counter for 1-2 hours. Warm up in the microwave for 20-30 seconds if desired. Enjoy!
Hi, I just made these muffins with “Pamela’s GF measure for measure flour” . They turned out “okay”… a bit of a texture or pallet issue. I’ll make them with regular flour next time.
These came out great! I used vegetable oil instead of melted butter and halved the baking soda (I saw the advice you gave someone else about reducing the amount of leavening) and they’re perfectly domed and a beautiful golden brown. I tried one and they taste delicious – the rest are going into the office to share with my coworkers so I don’t eat them all!
I’m looking forward to trying more of your muffin recipes, especially the banana nut and blueberry streusel.
Nice! The banana nut and blueberry streusel are also fan favs like the chocolate chips, so you’re gonna love it and thank you for your lovely comment:)
These were delicious! Maybe my muffin tins are smaller, but I was able to make 24 “typical” sized muffins with this recipe.
Rlly great recipe! I made these with my sister just for fun and they were delicious! Super easy and fun! Rlly good! Definitely making these again!!! <333
Made these for a party today and was a huge success among the adults and the children. Great and easy to follow recipe!!
This is a child friendly recipe. It is easy to do, and it’s fun! I’m 10 years old and I did it easily without my parents help!
That’s amazing Tuck! You’re parents must be very proud to have such a talented little baker and very lucky to get to enjoy all the amazing things you are going to make for them:)
Just wondering about baking these in a convection oven. Reduce temp by 25 degrees? Any idea about time?
Yes, reduce the oven temp by 25. Timewise, I’m would suggest about 5 min at 400 and about 10 min at 350.
These always taste great but sink a bit in the middle. Any idea what I might need to do differently?
Either they are underbaked or too much leavening. I’m going to guess the later so try reducing the baking soda to half and see if that works.
Made these for my mom’s birthday, best muffins I’ve made ! Thank youu <33
You’re very welcome and happy birthday to your mom!
Making this recipe again. It was a big hit in my house. Didn’t last but two days. I don’t think it would have lasted that long if I hadn’t put six in the cabinet.
Just got these out of the oven and ate one warm…. They were AMAZING! Will be making these a lot! Thanks!
You’re very welcome:) Enjoy!
So excited to make the recipe, but was wondering what the best alternative is for butter (or if there even is one). My dad absolutely cannot have butter and I hate leaving him out from any recipes:( I have tried oil conversions with other recipes and it hasn’t always turned out amazing lol. I have heard of margarine for certain things or “I can’t believe it’s not butter” type products. Just was curious for these muffins along with your recipe for the Blueberry with streusel muffins. I am planning on baking both, they just look amazing! Thanks for any advice:)
Hi Isabella, you can use an equal amount of vegetable oil or any type of neutral-tasting oil as a sub for butter for both the blueberry and chocolate chip muffin recipes. I hope you and your dad enjoy the muffins!
I’m not a fan of chocolate chip muffins.
Let me rephrase that – I wasn’t a fan of chocolate chip muffins until now! I fiddled with recipe a bit. I used 1 cup milk chocolate chips, 1/2 cup cinnamon chips, 1 Tbspn cinnamon, and1/4 cup less sugar. They were delicious!
I like my bakes on the less sweet side, so I might try coconut sugar next time. Thanks for posting it.
You’re very welcome, Jen, and I’m so happy the recipe made you a fan!
I made these today, and except for slightly overbaking and sticking to the pan they were wonderful. I’ll have to get liners and remember to set a timer next time. I only got 6 muffins; did you use cupcake sizes pans to get 12?
Thank you for your feedback and yes, I used a standard-size muffin/cupcake pan:)
Hi!! I love this recipe, my family absolutely adores it! I wanted to ask, if I wanted to cut down on the sugar a bit, would using 3/4 cups or even a half cup still taste solid?
3/4 cup probably wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but I’m not sure if 1/2 cup would be sweet enough.
Favorite chocolate chip muffins! The rise nicely, just like at the bakery and taste delicious. Best part is that they are easy to make!