Chocolate Chip Muffins, bakery style

Say hello to your next must-make muffin recipe—Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins! These soft and airy muffins are loaded with chocolate chips with a crunchy, crackly top thanks to a little added sparkling sugar. They're easy to whip up and the perfect treat to share with the family, a good friend, or a neighbor!

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make these house-made bakery-style chocolate chip muffins.

• All-Purpose Flour
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• Eggs
• Unsalted Butter
• Vegetable Oil
• Granulated Sugar
• Buttermilk
• Vanilla Extract
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• Sparkling Sugar

It's best for the unsalted butter to be melted and cooled slightly and for the buttermilk and eggs to be at room temperature before starting.

Substitutions

Vegetable Oil. In place of vegetable oil, you can use canola.

Buttermilk. In place of buttermilk, you can use either a substitute buttermilk powder, like The Saco Pantry's Cultured Buttermilk Blend or you can use the house-made buttermilk mix I mention below.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. You can use milk chocolate or semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The sparkling sugar is optional and does not need to be added to the tops of the muffins before baking.

I did not test this method using eggs, flour, or butter substitutes.

How it comes together

Here's a quick overview of how to make these easy and flavorful bakery-style chocolate chip muffins. You don't need your stand or hand mixer for this one either—just a few mixing bowls, a whisk, and a spatula!

Step 1. Melt the butter. Do this first so it can have a chance to cool a little before adding to the batter.

Step 2. Whisk the dry ingredients together. This includes all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Step 3. Whisk the wet ingredients together. Place the eggs, melted unsalted butter, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl and whisk until it's well blended.

Step 4. Add in the dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Use a spatula for this part and mix until the mixture is just combined.

Step 5. Scoop, then bake. Scoop the batter evenly into each liner (standard or tulip-style), then bake at 425ºF for 8 minutes. Reduce the temperature at this time to 350ºF and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes. My chocolate chip muffins came out well at the 15-minute mark.

house-made Buttermilk Substitute

If you're out of buttermilk or don't have time to get to the store, you can use the following house-made buttermilk substitute to make these chocolate chip muffins.

Add one tablespoon of lemon juice to the bottom of a 2/3 measuring cup. Then fill the rest of the measuring cup with milk.

Whole milk or 2% is preferred, but I've used 1% in a pinch. Stir the mixture, then let it sit for a minimum of 5 minutes to thicken.

Questions on this bake

Can I bake these in standard-size cupcake liners?

Yes! If you're using standard muffin liners, you will yield more chocolate chip muffins, approximately 21.

How much batter should I add to each liner?

I used a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop to fill each liner. I did one full scoop, then went back and added about one tablespoon more which used up all of the batters.

Why do you add the chocolate chips and dry ingredients to the wet ingredients simultaneously?

I find that when I add the chocolate chips and dry ingredients simultaneously, they get coated, preventing them from sinking to the bottom.

What can Use as a buttermilk substitute?

You can use either a substitute buttermilk powder, like The Saco Pantry's Cultured Buttermilk Blend, or you can use the house-made buttermilk mix I mentioned above.