Sweet, soft, and fluffy bakery style chocolate chip muffins.
At the time of this writing, if you google “chocolate chip muffins”, you will get 1,260,000 results. That’s over a million results, friends.
A million chocolate chip muffin recipes and I have the nerve to suggest that I have something new for you, something that’s better than a million other recipes.
But that’s exactly what I’ve got for you today, and considering that you’re here and maybe (hopefully?) you’ve been following along with my recipes, I’m going to assume that you and I have similar taste, and you are going to love this recipe as much as I do.
As usual, this recipe went through many different versions before settling in its final form.
I wanted these chocolate chip muffins to be soft (thank you, cornstarch, for finally solving that for me!), fluffy (an extra, well-stirred egg white), and definitely not dry (do not underestimate the moistening power of buttermilk, it helps give these muffins the best texture you could ever ask for).
I wanted them to be big and proud, like something you’d see in a New York City bakery display.
I spend a lot of my time reading about the science behind baking, but for the life of me I couldn’t get these muffins to have nice, full, rounded muffin tops, no matter what I did (well, I should say I couldn’t get them to have the muffin tops I was looking for and the perfect texture/flavor.)
I finally found this article from The Kitchen Whisperer, which solved all of my problems. Evidently, if you start with your oven on a high temperature and then drop the temperature about a third of the way through baking, your muffin tops will spring to life and your muffin bottoms won’t burn or dry out (this was another thing I’d been struggling with).
Sweet muffin top perfection.
Mondays call for muffins. Big, soft, fluffy muffins with extra chocolate and well-sugared tops.
I hope you’ll try these out and let me know in the comments how you like them, and how they stack up against the one million-plus other chocolate chip muffin recipes out there.
Enjoy!
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
Soft, fluffy, chocolate chip studded muffins with sugar shellacked tops.
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled at least 5 minutes (57g)
- ¼ cup canola oil may substitute vegetable oil (60ml)
- 1 cup sugar (200g) (granulated sugar)
- 1 large egg + 1 egg white room temperature preferred
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk* room temperature preferred -- please see note for buttermilk substitute
- 1 3/4 cup flour 220g
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips I used a mix of mini and regular sized, but you can use either or a combination (175g)
- 1/3 cup additional granulated sugar, coarse sugar preferred for topping (67g)
Instructions
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Combine butter and canola oil in a large bowl. Stir well.
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Stir in sugar.
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Add egg, egg white, and vanilla extract. Stir very well, until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
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Add buttermilk and stir well.
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In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, corn starch, and salt.
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Fold dry ingredients into wet gently, taking care not to overmix. Once about half of the dry ingredients have been combined, add in chocolate chips and continue to fold in to batter.
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Cover bowl with a dry towel and allow batter to sit 15 minutes**
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Preheat oven to 425F (218C) and line muffin tin with paper liners.
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Once oven has preheated, portion batter into 6-cavity large muffin tin (you may also use regular, 12 count muffin tin, you will just need to bake them for less time), filling each tin all the way to the top with batter (without overflowing).
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Sprinkle tops generously with sugar and place muffin tin in preheated oven.
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Bake on 425F (218C) for 8 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 (177C) (do not open the oven door or remove the muffins, just leave them in and reduce the temperature) and bake another 15 minutes, or until tops are just beginning to turn golden brown (if you are using a 12-count muffin tin rather than jumbo-sized, these will not need to bake as long. Start checking your muffins after 7-8 minutes on 350F (177C).
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Allow to cool, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*If you don't happen to have buttermilk, you can use this substitute: pour 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar into a measuring cup and then fill up to the 1/2 cup line with regular milk. Stir well and allow mixture to sit for at least 5 minutes (it will thicken) before using.
**This is optional, it helps give the muffin tops a higher rise but you can certainly put them straight in the oven without waiting and they'll still taste delicious. Ideally you would let the batter set at least one hour, but I found 15 minutes gives me a decent rise (the muffins in the photographs were allowed 15 minutes) while still not dragging out the process too much.
Special thanks to The Kitchen Whisperer for the great tips that helped make these muffins truly "bakery style"!
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Those look amazing. A great excuse to dig out my muffin pans again after not using them for a while. I noticed you using what looks to be parchment paper as muffing liners in a few of your recipes (including this one). Any tips on cutting the pieces and folding them to prevent them from jumping out of the pan? This is the issue I had previously when trying to use this.
I definitely would love your feedback if you try them out! What I did here was cut the parchment paper into squares and then place the center on the bottom of a soda can (you’ll need a smaller can if you’re using a regular sized muffin tin. I usually have the side with the curl from the parchment paper roll facing towards me, it keeps the edges from curling into each other when I’m trying to portion the batter). I press the paper down and make hard creases down the sides in the parchment paper and use the back of my thumbnail to emphasize the creases on the sides and around the bottom of the soda can. They don’t sit as neatly in the muffin tin as storebought liners but they sit well enough that I can use an ice cream scoop to portion batter into the liners without making a mess, does that make sense?
That makes perfect sense. Thanks, I’ll have to try that out when I make these 🙂
I definitely trust you and have pinned these to make next time I’m craving chocolate chip muffins (which to be honest, will probably be soon!). These look like perfection!!
Thank you so much, Sues! I hope you love them 🙂
Oh dear sweet muffin heaven! Those look positively beautious and droolworthy! And noooooooooooow I need these in my life!
I was like you when it came to low profile muffins for the longest time. Honestly it took me a bit to finally sit down, write it out in a process flow, analyze the factors (inputs/outputs) and once I saw it on the paper it kind of clicked. It’s the dual engineer nerd in me LOL
And great tip about the parchment paper muffin liners too! Thanks again for giving me the shout out; I really appreciate it!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Thank YOU for your amazing tips! Thanks so much for commenting, Lori, I really appreciate the hard work you put into that post 🙂
Made these regular size because I don’t have a jumbo muffin pan. I did 7 minutes on the higher temperature and 11 on the lower temperature. They came out perfect! Will be keeping this recipe.
So glad you enjoyed them, Lisa! 🙂
You have sugar (I’m guessing you mean granulated sugar?) listed twice, listed as 1 cup and 1/3 cup. Is the 1 cup for the batter and 1/3 for sprinkling on top? I just wanted to check before I tried this out! Your recipes are always the best!!
Hi Ash! Yes, the 1/3 cup is separate for sprinkling on top. Once I get back to my home computer I’ll update that to make it clearer. I hope you love the muffins! Happy thanksgiving! 🙂
Hi, these seemed to be the exact kind of muffin that I wanted to make. I followed the recipe exactly. I did make them in a 12 muffin pan, and let the batter sit for 15 min before baking. The problem is they completely spread out over the top and sank in the middle. I live in high altitude so I’m thinking that could have affected it, but I’ve made many other muffin recipes that are not tailored to high altitude and they never sank, always rose nicely. What went wrong?
Hi Jennifer, if it wasn’t the altitude I’d ask if it’s possible if the leaveners were bad, if the muffin cups were overfilled (this is my worst offender) or if the batter was over-mixed. Do any of these seem likely? I’m going to be making them again this week so I’ll see if I notice anything else that could go wrong to cause this.
I just discovered your recipe on Friday and I’ve already made a batch…TWICE. These came out absolutely perfect. I don’t have a jumbo muffin pan so I did twelve regular size muffins, 8 minutes on the higher temperature, and about 12 on the lower (my oven is wonky), and they came out wonderful crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside.
My husband really enjoyed them and was comparing them to a muffin Starbucks had forever ago – a banana chocolate chip blend. I’m not super adept at creating recipes but I do know that adding banana would alter the moisture content of these – do you know how I would go about altering it to add in banana?
I made these muffins last weekend and again this weekend. They are SO good! This time I added 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (regular size), 1/3 cup peanut butter chips, 1/3 cup of mini chocolate chips, and they turned out so well! I love these and will definitely continue to make them. They are the perfect combination of moist inside and crunchy on top. I just made regular size muffins, so I baked them at 425 for 7 minutes and 350 for 11 minutes and that worked really well :). Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
LOVE the addition of the dark chocolate (my favorite) and peanut butter chips! That sounds amazing, Hope! Thank you so much for commenting, I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins! 🙂
Hi Samantha, I just put a batch in the oven…will keep you posted. 😉
Hi Rosa, I hope you loved them! 🙂
I did! I have a VERY old oven and I struggle with it. If you turn the temp up over 375 or so, it just turns off. I couldn’t get the muffins to turn a nice golden color, but they were very good! I used only half of the chocolate chips and added a 1/2 cup of pecan halves. Delicious!! 🙂
I recently discovered your blog and have quite a list of items I’d like to try. I made these muffins last night and love, love, love them! I have new ovens and am still figuring them out but these turned out perfect. Definitely staying in the rotation of baked goods.
I’m going to try adding banana. We have dried banana so I’ll blitz it into a powder and sub out some flour maybe some liquid I’ll sub out for real banana. Hope it works I love banana chocolate chip muffins.
That sounds amazing, Laura! I’d love to know how it turns out, I have plans for a banana chocolate chip muffin in the future so I’d love to hear how yours goes 🙂
Amazing! I just made these and they are exactly what I’ve been looking for! Soft in the inside and crunchy on the out side. This is a keeper!! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
This makes me so happy to hear! Glad you loved the recipe as much as I do, Donna! 🙂
Now these are my favorite. I could have had them all but I shared. I’ve never made such good muffins
I am going to make these to donate to a Ladies Good Friday breakfast. Thanks for sharing.
Made a batch of regular size blueberry. Immediately after, made a batch of jumbo chocolate chip. An hour later, ANOTHER batch of regular size blueberry.
Truly, THE best muffins, ever. Better than anything I have had in any bakery or restaurant.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I love hearing this!!! So glad you enjoyed the muffins, Chuck, and thank you for coming back to let me know how they turned out!! 🙂
I just made this recipe and it is the most delicious chocolate chip muffin I have ever had. I WILL be making them again. I used jumbo muffin tins and they came out fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside. Bravo!
Yay! I’m so glad that you loved them, John! Thanks for coming back and letting me know how they turned out for you!
Just made these for the 1st time and sampled while warm from the over.
I made 12 regular size muffins and they are delicious!
My first recipe from your blog and I’ll be back to look around some more.
Thank you!
I think next time I will use mini chocolate chips. (only had big ones in the house so went with that)
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed them, Marcella! Thank you for coming back to comment and let me know how they turned out for you!! <3