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 a great easy delicious muffin recipe. My only concern is that the muffins while tasting fine were a bit dry. I tried looking up reasons why and a few things came up. Too much baking soda and the higher oven temp. Any suggestions? Thank you.
Remove it from the oven a few minutes sooner and that should help!
My daughter and her classmate made these muffins for a math project at school where a portion had to be donated to a seniors’ home. They were absolutely delicious, the best I have ever tasted! This will be my go to recipe from now on!
Thanks so much! This recipe turned out perfectly!
I made them vegan with a few substitutions that I’ll list below. I also used an icecream scoop to portion the batter and ended up with 17 muffins total. They are delicious and perfect.
Substitutions to make vegan:
eggs = 2 TBS flaxseed meal + 5 TBS water (mix together and let stand at least 5 min)
butter = Violife unsalted plant based butter
buttermilk = 1 cup Silk unsweet coconut milk + 1 TBS white vinegar (mix and let stand)
Baked mine at 425 F for 5 minutes and then 375F for 13 minutes.
Thanks again! Definitely would make again. Love a recipe that is basically just mix together and go!!
how much batter should we put in each cup?
Fill all the way to the top. This recipe makes 12 large muffins.
I made these with coconut palm sugar and maple syrup and they turned out amazing.
Love this recipe! I’ve made it a few times now for mini muffins! This time I added 4 Tbs. Of vanilla pudding mix, wonderful addition!
Just saw this recipe and want to know if we can use non-granulated sugar?
Are you referring to cane sugar? If so, yes.
These were pretty good! I loved the slight crunch on the outside and how moist they were inside ☺️
I’ll probably make them again soon. Question: mine did turn out with a slightly more gritty texture than airy- was wondering if this was intentional or if I did something wrong? I usually do cupcakes so muffins are a little new to me haha
Hey Anna, thank you for your feedback. It shouldn’t be gritty but muffins are supposed to be a little more dense than cupcakes.
I have made these several times and they always turn out good. Thank you for the recipe.
You’re very welcome and thank you for your lovely review!
I love these muffins! There’s only one thing in the recipe that I changed- the amout of baking soda. The first time I made them they were amazing and fluffy, but somehow I could kinda feel the baking soda even if I added exactly 13 g as in the recipe. However, this recipe is definitively a keeper and I will be making only these from now. You are the best, gonna check rn if you have any recipe for carrot cake muffins.
Thank you for your kind words! I don’t have a carrot cake muffin recipe. I do have a carrot cake recipe and these morning glory muffins that are very similar: https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/morning-glory-muffins/
Amazing recipe, I’ve made it twice now with a wonderful flavor. But foe some reason my tops seem to spread wide rather than up. Any ideas on why? I used fresh flour, bs, and BP. Although I did run out of white sugar and had to use cane. And i only had milk chocolate.Would that have made the difference?
Thank you, Katie. Sounds like the batter is too thin causing to spread while baking. Reduce the milk to 3/4 cup and that should help.
Good morning! Just found this recipe and I’m about to make them. Simple question, does the muffin bake well in an oversized muffin pan?
They do. Just bake for an extra 10 minutes or so.
AMAZING muffins! We had to choose a recipe to bake for my foods course, and I had to pick these muffins! So amazing my teacher is hooked!
These are awesome! Im impressed. I didnt have buttermilk so I subbed Fairlife milk mixed with lemon juice. Also used unbleached flour.
Just made these and they are delicious! I made some revisions, substituted 1/2 whole grain flour, cut the sugar to 1/2 cup and used 2 tbsp honey to add moisture back because of the whole grain. Sprinkled sea salt on top. Delicious!
Just baked these delicious muffins. Awesome dome rise and super moist. Thank you for the recipe. Definitely a keeper! I will be making these again.
I do have one question, the bottoms of muffins are sticking to the paper wrapper. I baked for 5 minutes at 425, then 12 minutes at 375. I used regular sized chips. Any idea what I may have done wrong?
This can happen if you try to peel the paper wrapper while the muffins are still warm. It’s much easier to peel once the muffins are completely cooled. Enjoy the muffins and thank you for your kind words!
I spray the bottoms of my paper liners with cooking spray. Never had any problems since discovering that trick.
My family loves these muffins so much! They are incredible! Sorry if this has been asked, but can they be frozen once baked? Thank you!
No worries and yes they can:)
So good that my kids are willing to substitute their beloved cookies for it. Thank you
You’re very welcome:) Enjoy!
I am enjoying these with my 5 year old & realized I forgot the sugar!! Still taste amazing with just the chocolate chips in there to sweeten them. I’ll be saving this recipe!
After following this recipe ans baking a double batch from the get go i have decided that i am now ready to write my will cz i think i died and went to heaven. All i want to do is take this tray of muffins to bed and cover them up with my blanket and leave just about 3 muffins hanging onto the pillow case so everytime i roll over i get a peak of what awaits me either on the other side or in the morning. Thank you thank you thank you.
Oh wow, what a rave review! Thank you so much and you’re very welcome. Hugs:)