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    Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins

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    Sweet, soft, and fluffy bakery style chocolate chip muffins.

    Bakery style chocolate chip muffins with big fluffy muffin tops || Sugar Spun Run

    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.

    Bakery style chocolate chip muffins with big fluffy muffin tops || Sugar Spun Run

    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.

    Bakery style chocolate chip muffins with big fluffy muffin tops || Sugar Spun Run

    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.

    Bakery style chocolate chip muffins with big fluffy muffin tops || Sugar Spun Run

    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.

    Bakery style chocolate chip muffins with big fluffy muffin tops || Sugar Spun Run

    Enjoy!

    Bakery style chocolate chip muffins

    Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins

    Soft, fluffy, chocolate chip studded muffins with sugar shellacked tops.
    4.94 from 206 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Breakfast
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: bakery muffins, chocolate chip muffins, muffins
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 23 minutes
    Total Time: 38 minutes
    Servings: 6 Jumbo muffins
    Calories: 637kcal
    Author: Sam Merritt

    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

    • Combine butter and canola oil in a large bowl.  Stir well.
    • Stir in sugar.
    • Add egg, egg white, and vanilla extract.  Stir very well, until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
    • Add buttermilk and stir well.
    • In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, corn starch, and salt.
    • 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.
    • Cover bowl with a dry towel and allow batter to sit 15 minutes**
    • Preheat oven to 425F (218C) and line muffin tin with paper liners.  
    • 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).
    • Sprinkle tops generously with sugar and place muffin tin in preheated oven.
    • 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).
    • Allow to cool, and enjoy!

    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"!

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 637kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 252mg | Potassium: 214mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 64g | Vitamin A: 384IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 129mg | Iron: 2mg
    Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

    This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase anything through these links I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Please view the disclosure policy for more information.

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    Bakery style chocolate chip muffins with big fluffy muffin tops || Sugar Spun Run

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Riya

      5 stars
      I loved it, the exact kind of muffin I was looking for! I don’t get good chocolate chips where I live so I was wondering how I could make it work in the future?

      Reply

    2. Lee Barnhouse

      2 stars
      I was very hopeful, but after the initial 8 minutes at 425 the muffins were dark on top and raw in the middle. I took them down to 350 for another 15 minutes, and they’re still raw in the middle and even darker on top. I’m trying 10 more minutes at 325

      Reply

      • Sam

        I’m so sorry this happened, Lee! Did you bake them on the middle rack? If so, it sounds like your oven may be much hotter than it says it is. You shouldn’t remove them after the 425 bake. You should just turn the oven temperature down so you don’t lose all of that heat. I hope it goes better for you next time. 🙂

        Reply

    5. Kristen

      Hi, I wanted to make a soft and fluffy muffin and I came across this recipe with the addition of cornstarch.
      Can I check how many grams are 2 teaspoons of cornstarch? Looking forward to make these muffins tomorrow!

      Reply

        • Kristen

          Hi Sam, thanks! I have tried out the recipe using 5g of cornstarch and it turns out great! Will be adding more cornstarch to make it softer 😊

    6. Lauren Sole

      5 stars
      AMAZING! made these in about 1 hour. This recipe was super easy and tasted amazing!! Thank you for the recipe! Definitely making again.

      Reply

    7. Maria

      I tried these a couple of months ago and they were delicious!! I was wondering if maybe I could use the same batter formula for other types of muffins (I was thinking of adding carrot and walnuts in specific), because the consistency was the best I’ve ever gotten. Have you every tried to switch the chocolate for others?
      Thank you so much for the recipe!! <3

      Reply

      • Sam

        I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Maria! Carrots can be kind of tricky because they introduce more moisture but I think it will work. Other add-ins will work just fine. 🙂

        Reply

    8. betty

      I made these yesterday, and followed your recipe to the point. They turned out the best muffins I’ve ever made. And they taste soooo good! Thank you Sam 😊

      Reply

    9. Emily

      5 stars
      Thanks for the recipe. I reduced sugar to 50g and added 3 tsp instant coffee. I don’t really understand how this is meant to make 6 jumbo muffins though as mine made 7.5 normal-sized muffins. I also found a large disparity between the volume and weight measurements. That might be my own measuring cups being different or something, but as an FYI to others I’d stick to either weight or volume and not mix methods.

      Reply

      • Sam

        So glad you enjoyed, Emily! Wow I’ve always had this make 12 regular sized muffins, so that’s strange. And yes, I always recommend using weights as volume can be very inaccurate.

        Reply

    10. Esther

      5 stars
      As requested by family, making my 4th triple batch of these wonderful muffins! They are so good. Thank you! Going to do your blueberry next! No changes needed!

      Reply

    11. Michelle

      5 stars
      PERFECT muffins . One of the very few recipes I did not have to tweak . I make them mostly for my husband who loves them . Even though I don’t really have a sweet tooth I can’t resist them .

      Reply

    12. Nad

      5 stars
      These Muffins are sooooo delisious. I literally made them 3 days in a row, because my kids can’t get enough.
      Perfect recipe. THANK YOU ☺️

      Reply

    13. Vicky

      5 stars
      Amazing recipe. Finally, I have achieved muffins with a nice rounded top! No more flat top muffins!! I wish I could attach a picture. They came out exactly, I mean EXACTLY, the same as the ones pictured.

      Reply

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