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.
THESE ARE THE BEST MUFFINS EVER!!!!! Shed a tear when I tried one! My whole family loves them.
Thank you for your wonderful feedback Sarah. I’m glad you and your family enjoyed them as much as we do:)
Just made these last night and had them for breakfast this morning, they were delicious thank you for this great recipe!!!
You’re welcome Mary. I’m glad you enjoyed them and have a great evening:)
Made these today. They taste almost exactly like Tim Hortons muffins. They were amazing. Thank you for a great recipe.
You’re welcome Jules and thank you for your kind words.
I have made these 5_6 x & grand daughter won’t have any others.
That makes me happy to hear that your granddaughter enjoys them so much. Thanks for your feedback Joy and have a lovely day.
Wow. This was impressive! I am an avid baker. I love to bake! There were spot on to the picture you posted. Delicious. Now I am curious. I want to make a denser muffin, kind of a cross between muffin and chocolate chip Cookie. I’m going to try to sub some of the sugar for brown sugar and see what happens. Bravo to you Lily for this amazing recipe!
Thank you for your kind words Karen and have a lovely weekend 🙂
Did you use semi sweet or milk chocolate chips?
I used semi-sweet, but you can use any kind of chocolate chips you prefer.
Could I make these with 1/3 cup butter, or would I need to also adjust all of the other ingredients as well? Thanks
Hi Christin,
No, 1/3 cup of butter would be dry. I recommend topping the butter to 1/2 cup with some vegetable oil. You can adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly, but topping the butter with oil is a lot easier.
would using frozen berries affect the end result of the muffins? would they still bake correctly with the moisture from the berries?
Hi Sophie, using frozen berries works fine with this recipe. You just might have to extend the baking time for a few extra minutes. Enjoy:)
I found your blog through a Google search engine. I’m looking forward to making these chocolate chip muffins!! 🙂
Wonderful, let me know how you like them:)
I LOVE THIS RECIPE! Seriously fool-proof, gorgeous result. Thank you for sharing! These are fun to make and delicious. I am hoping that you are working on a similar recipe for bakery-style banana muffins? (the ones with the cream cheese look amazing – but you lost me at cake flour, frothy eggs and pastry pouch 🙂
You’re welcome and thank you for your kind words. I actually am planning to make a bakery style banana nut muffin in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned and have a great day:)
Just made these for our boys this morning. They absolutely loved them and so did we!!! A perfect chocolate chip muffin, finally something theyd rather have baked from home rather than bought from the bakery. Thanks and great job!
Thank you and you’re welcome Sherri. I’m glad you enjoyed then so much:)
I did a lot of research before choosing which muffins to make and I am SO glad I chose these! They are absolutely delicious! I ended up making 18 smaller muffins instead of 12 big ones and they all puffed perfectly and are light and fluffy. Thank you!
Made these, they’re in the oven right now and I can’t wait to try them! I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Wonderful, I hope you enjoyed them as much as we do:)
Ok… This is my first time making homemade muffins ever. I have been trying to save money for my family by cooking from scratch and I’ve also never had fresh, homemade muffins. They have always been the little blue box brand. I love these! Now I followed as closely as I could but I did not have real butter… Only country crock calcium with vitamin d. Once I melted it in the microwave I did my best to keep it melted and cooled…. I was not sure if it was going to firm back up if I let it cool completely… So I added the milk to it once it was cool enough. The end result is great but very buttery flavored. Is this the result of the vegetable oil spread or the over all recipe? I also made sure to measure everything out with a scale and ended up filling 12 regular muffin cups as well as a whole glass pie pan.
Hi Erica,
I’m glad you enjoyed them. The “very buttery flavor” could be from the Country Crock because there is artificial flavoring in it to make it tastes like butter. Thank you for your feedback and have a great day:)
I’ve made these twice now– they’re great. The first time I made them, I used buttermilk. The second time, I used plain, full-fat yogurt. I also use pasty flour for this recipe; it makes a tender, beautiful crumb.
Some advice to readers with hot ovens (like mine)– open the oven for about 30 seconds between the initial 425 bake and the 375 longer bake. This allowed my oven to cool off enough that the muffins baked evenly without burning or skipping the hot bake.
Thanks for your feedback Patricia and for your advice about the hot oven for other readers, much appreciated:)
Hi lily am going to make these today was jut wondering someone mentioned pastry flour in one of there comment would that give you more moist and fluffy or just stick to your recipe thank you can’t wait to make these
Hi Marie, I recommend trying the recipe as is first. These muffins are moist an fluffy made with all-purpose flour. The pastry flour will give it more of cake texture than muffin. It’s a personal preference, but try it as is first then do a comparison if you’d like. Most of my readers use all-purpose flour and love the recipe as is. Enjoy and have a wonderful day:)
I made these yesterday and they turned out delicious .. however is there a way to make them more fluffy from the inside ? Mine were not as fluffy as ai wanted it to be. The ones i have at tim hortons have more of a fluffy texture to it
Not my blog but I have to recommend pastry flour– fluffy is exactly how I’d describe these muffins.
Thanks again Patricia, that’s exactly what I was going to suggest:)
I just made these muffins using the recipe exactly as you have it, They are the BEST muffins I have ever made. And they turned out perfect with the high tops . Husband loves them .
Thank you for your kind words Dodie, enjoy:)
Could I make these into mini muffins? It shouldn’t change it right?
Yes, you can make these into mini muffins. Just bake at 375F for about 10 minutes. Enjoy:)
Can i add mashed banana to this 🙂
No, I wouldn’t recommend adding mashed bananas because it would make the batter too wet. You can fold in some chopped bananas. I had a reader that did that and she said it was great and tasted like banana bread. However, if you are looking for a simple banana muffin recipe, try this one http://www.everyday-reading.com/2014/12/everyday-banana-muffins.html?m=1
Thank you for your question and have a wonderful day:)
Hi, your muffins are amazing!!!! my whole family ate them in a day:) I was just wondering how many calories there is in each muffin?
Hi Avery, I’m glad your family loved them so much. A reader calculated the muffins to be about 337 calories each, which is not bad. Enjoy and have a great day:)
Everyone in our family loves your recipe. They are very light not too sweet. The first time I made them I only had regular sized chocolate chips. They were delicious but the chip distribution wasn’t great. I have a batch in the oven now made with mini chips. The batter was a lot easier to work with and my sons will be excited about all the chips in their muffins. One of my sons is a blueberry muffin fanatic and the recipe I use is ok. They are too dense and don’t have a lot of flavor. I just found your blueberry muffin recipe and it is next on my to bake list.
Hi Kelly,
Thank you for your lovely comment and yes, definitely try my Bakery Style Blueberry Muffin recipe. It’s a reader favorite and very similar to this recipe, so I’m sure your son will love it. Enjoy and have a great day:)
This recipe is seriously fool proof! I don’t have a lot of finesse when it comes to baking, and these turned out gorgeous. I’ve made this recipe 3 times. The second time I just dumped everything in the kitchen aid and mixed it up and they still were beautiful! The third time I had no chocolate chips, AND I forgot to put in the butter, and again-(somehow) delicious!
Awesome to hear Christina! I’m glad the recipe worked so well for you. Thank you for your wonderful feedback and have a lovely day:)
I am not a regular baker but tried this recipe & its just awesome. A 100 % full proof recipe. Thanks a lot.
You’re welcome Rachna and thank your kind words:)