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 all-purpose 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 incorporated into the batter, add in chocolate chips and continue to fold in to batter until all ingredients are just combined.
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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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Norma says
Your muffins are the best. I made the banana muffins the other day and gave them to a neighbor and my sons family. Everyone raved and now I am on to chocolate chip ones. The best recipe ever, better than from a bakery. Thank you for sharing your recipes with us
Sam says
Thank you, Norma!! That means a lot to me, a lot of work goes into perfecting these recipes so I appreciate it so much that you let me know that they are enjoyed!! Thank you for commenting! <3
Heather says
What flour should I use for these muffins?
You do not say what type of flour for these bakery style muffins. Bread flour or all purpose flour?
Please let me know by e-mailing me
Sam says
Hi Heather, all-purpose. I hope you love them! 🙂
Virginia Katis says
Where do you get those paper liners?
Sam says
I made them myself out of parchment paper, I cut the parchment into squares and then mold them around the bottom of a can that’s the same size as my muffin tin cavity. I’ve gotten a lot of questions on how to do this so I think I’ll have to do a quick post on it one day.
Manon Dumoulin says
Wow seriously the best just made them and will for sure make them again❤❤❤❤❤
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Karen says
I MADE THESE TODAY & THEY ARE FANTASTIC ! DELICIOUS ! SUPER EASY TO MAKE ! MY NEW FAVORITE MUFFIN RECIPE ! THANKS FOR SHARING !
Sam says
So happy to hear you enjoyed them! 🙂
Lisa says
I’m making them now, I’m using the regular size muffin tin, wondering if I still do the 8 min 425 and then just reduce the 15 min at 350
Sam says
There are notes in the recipe to make them in a standard sized tin, I hope that helps! 🙂
Liz says
I really want to make these today, I have all of the recipe except corn starch. how important is this?
Sam says
It is important for making them soft and fluffy. They will still turn out without the corn starch, but they just won’t be as good.
Ander says
Hey Sam,
I baked a batch of these the other day to cheer up my girlfriend after a bad day.
They were absolutely amazing! Turned her around like you wouldn’t believe!
Looking forward to trying out another of your recipes next week.
Sam says
I am so happy to hear that they were such a hit, Ander!! 🙂
Omita says
Is that parchment paper you use as liners?
Sam says
Yes it is 🙂
Gail says
You can get all different kind and color of cupcake liners from Amazon.
Kat says
These were delicious. I think next I may cut back on the sugar because of the chocolate chips it’s was a little too sweet for me but would be perfect for a blueberry or other fruit muffin. I might even throw some cinnamon and peaches and try it that way 🙂
Sam says
Glad you enjoyed, Kat!
carole says
Best recipe ever. I did them at least four times, can’t get enough of them. Thank you!
Sam says
So glad to hear you enjoyed them!! 🙂
Katrina says
I didn’t let anything come to room temperature and I didn’t allow them to rise at all and they still came out perfect. Absolutely delicious 😋
Sam says
I’m so glad to hear they were such a hit, Katrina!! 🙂