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.
Ohhh my I just made these are they are perfect. Alot of my utensils had different measurements so I had to improvise. Also I use Celsius so I ended up baking them 15minutes at 180degrees C and my oven is a fan forced one. They still came out light and fluffy golden on top and crunchy. The batter was not wet at all, nice and sticky so no chocolate chips sunk. But I think I used less milk though.
Seriously 10/10
Aww, thank you for your lovely comment Jayde. I appreciate it and enjoy the muffins:)
I’m going try made it today with buttermilk I hope it come out good
Hi Lily,
I made the muffins and they were amazing!! The tops were nice and crispy. What a great recipe 🙂
Thank you for your lovely feedback Grace. Enjoy the muffins:)
hi!
I’ve tried your recipe last night. I’m bit disappointed, the top part of the muffin was not as smooth as your picture (it was chunky a bit) and were not moist. BUT i will try it again! I’ve read a few comments and I know they should be good! From the comments i’ve read, i will try buttermilk for next time since i’ve used 2% milk and i’ve read a few of your comments referring to buttermilk to make them more moist. And my other problem i think is i over mixed the ingredients together. The picture looks to good to not retry this recipe. Any other tips that you could give?
Thanks, Marie-Eve
Hi Marie-Eve,
Yes, I definitely recommend using buttermilk or even whole milk works well too. Also, since your results were dry, try sifting your flour before you measure and that should lighten up your batter for a smoother surface and more moist. Thank you for your feedback and let me know how it turns out:)
Hi Lily, I made muffins this morning and they were a big hit with my kids and husband! But I have one problem, the chocolate chips settled at the bottom of the muffins instead of being dispersed throughout the muffin. Can you tell me why? Also, I used a muffin pan and sprayed each cup with Canola spray. Should I have used something different because my muffins didn’t come out easily? Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Nicole, I use Pam Baking Spray. It’s an oil and flour non-stick cooking spray and it works really well every time. Though, the canola spray should have worked too. Perhaps, spray a little more next time. As for the chocolate chips, did you toss it along with all the dry ingredients or fold it in at the end? Because if you toss it with the dry ingredients, the flour coating should prevent the chips from sinking. Give that a try next time and it should help. Thank you for your feedback and have a lovely day:)
What about apples, or cranberries, or nuts etc?
Would you just use this recipe or your blueberry one and substitute?
Hi Maija, you could use either recipe and yes, just substitute. Thank you for your question and enjoy:)
these are AMAZING! Definitely a new GOTO recipe for me. Thank you!
Mary
Great to hear Mary! Thank you for your comment. Enjoy:)
These look absolutely amazing! I’m currently living overseas and only have a convection oven that makes it difficult to change temps mid baking. Do you have a suggestion for baking these at one temperature? Sorry if this has been answered, I tried to look through as many comments as I could but there’s a lot 🙂
Hi Kim,
No worries, I welcome and appreciate questions in regards to my recipes. I would suggest baking at 375F for 18-20 minutes. Enjoy and have a lovely day:)
Turn the fan on low of it has that option
I have convection too and what I do is just hit cancel when the time is up, then hit bake again and enter the other temperature and start the oven again. Not hard at all!
Can you give me a weight for the ingredients or tell me the measurement of the cup size please?
Hi Lesley, I have added the weight in grams and volume in milliliters to the recipe. Thank you for your question and I hope that helps:)
First of all, this muffins are AMAZING!! My brother and I cant stop eating them. I was just wondering, do you have any ballpark estimates about how many calories they might be each?
Hi Lyrica, I’m glad you think the muffins are amazing:) Based on my calorie calculator, the muffins are about 364 calories each which is normal for a large muffin. Thank you for your feedback and have a wonderful day.
This Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe is amazing. My husband and daughter loved it. I will definitely do this again.
Thanks for sharing your recipe Lily. I can’t wait to try your other recipes here.
Wonderful to hear. Thank you for your feedback:)
I made these muffins tonight as written – the taste is really good but many of them sank in the minddle. I didn’t get the nice puffy tops. I do live at altitude (Calgary AB) so this may have affected them. Any thoughts?
Hi Caroline, the high altitude could be it. Though, I have never baked at high altitude before, from what I’ve read, start with decreasing the baking soda by 1/2 tsp, decrease the sugar by 1 tbsp, increase the milk by 1 tbsp, fill 14 muffins cups instead of 12, same temperature, so 425F for 5 mins, then 375 for remainder of time and keep a close watch at this point. Give that a try next time and let me know how it turns out for you:)
These look great. I am wanting to try them. Do you use milk or semi sweet chocolate chips?
Hi Angela, I use semi-sweet chocolate chips. Enjoy:)
Can I use blueberries instead of chocolate chips?
Yes you can, see my Bakery Style Blueberry Streusel Muffins
http://littlesweetbaker.com/2015/02/13/bakery-style-blueberry-streusel-muffins/
Enjoy!
Hi, I was just wondering if instead of 1 cup granulated sugar I could use white or caster sugar?? Thanks for your time and these muffins look so good, can’t wait to try them!! 🙂
Hi Bianca, yes you can use white sugar. Enjoy and have a wonderful day:)
Thank you and have a great day too! 🙂
Hi! Is there any chance I could make this into a loaf instead of cupcakes? How long would I need to bake the loaf? Thanks.
Hi Alyse, I have not tried it myself, but I have read online that you can convert any muffin recipe into a loaf and vice versa. You just have to adjust the bake time, so I suggest 375F for about 45 minutes. Enjoy and thank you for your question:)
Those muffins are delicious!! Since I’m allergic to dairy I had to make some substitutions but they still came out perfect and “bakery scrumptious”!! I substituted soymilk for milk and non dairy margarine for the butter, also used non dairy bittersweet chocolate chips, same quantities… deliiciouuss! Thanks!
Hi Myriam, you’re welcome and thank you for your feedback:) It’s great to know about those substitutions for anyone else who has a dairy allergy.
These are – by far – the best muffins I’ve ever made. My 3 year old helped me make them this afternoon, and these are so, so moist and delicious. They really do taste like bakery-style muffins!
Thank you for sharing these – they are definitely my new “go-to” chocolate muffins!
That’s great to hear Sarah and I think its really cute that your 3 year old helped you. You’re welcome and thank you for your lovely comment:)
Hi I was wondering if I could substitute the AP flour with cake flour?
Hi Ashley, I have never done it myself, but I read online that you can use 1 cup plus 2 tbsp of cake flour for every 1 cup of AP flour. Try that and let me know how you like the muffins. Thank you for your question, enjoy:)
These were delicious. I also had extra dough. I thinned it with milk, and used it for waffles and topped them with maple syrup. Mmmm.
Hi Kim, I absolutely love your brilliant idea of using the rest of the batter for waffles. I so have to try that! Thank you for feedback:)
So I think the quality of your muffin pan makes a difference. I read some people had a problem with their muffins sinking. So I made mine on 2 different muffin trays. One, they sank and were wet in the middle. The other one, they rose and look perfect.
All in all I am excited to taste these, waiting for them to cool! Im sad that over half of them sank, but I will definitely make this again because of how awesome the other pan worked.
Good to know about the pans and thank you for your feedback Gabbie, enjoy:)
I made these with whole wheat flour and mini-muffin pans for my 2 year old, and they turned out fantastic. I baked the first batch too long, but found the right time after the second. (7 minutes at 375.)
Hi Holly, thank you for your feedback about the whole wheat flour and bake time. I’m glad you and your little one enjoyed them. Have a wonderful day:)
Is it possible for me to use 2% milk in this recipe instead of whole of buttermilk?
Yes, you can use 2% milk in this recipe or make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tbsp of white vinegar to a measuring cup, fill with milk to make 1 cup, stir and let stand for 5 minutes. Enjoy:)
Hi i was wondering can i use a different filling instead of the chocolate chips? I am thinking apples or blueberries ?
Here’s my bakery style blueberry muffin recipe that you can substitute with chopped apples if you’d like:
https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/2015/02/13/bakery-style-blueberry-streusel-muffins/
Enjoy!