Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
Bakery-style chocolate chip muffins are my favorite kind of muffins. It’s like eating a big, soft chocolate chip cookie for breakfast, which makes it totally OK, right?
Ingredient Stretching Tip: Use up that cake flour and chocolate chips to make this double chocolate chip muffin recipe.
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There’s a local supermarket in my neighborhood that makes fantastic bakery-style chocolate chip muffins. First, they’re jumbo, bigger than what most people could make at home, and their texture and flavor are on point.
They truly are bakery muffins (and actually better than many I’ve gotten at traditional bakeries) and a perfect pairing with a steaming cup of coffee or tea.
Size notwithstanding, I wanted to duplicate the texture and flavor of these favorite muffins of mine. I love ones that are moist, full-bodied, and have a homemade taste, specifically, a “yellow cake” taste. So I set out on my experiment, “trying a bit of this and a bit of that” to see what would stick.
But because baking truly is a science, it’s not always easy to pinpoint what goes wrong or even right when recipe testing, and you need a good deal of patience to figure everything out.
I made these muffins at least five times before landing on this recipe. I tried making them with milk, low-fat buttermilk, and fat-free buttermilk (only because my supermarket was out of low-fat that day), and the low-fat came out the winner.
I also tried making them with one egg, then two eggs. I tried making them with less baking powder before finally adding more. I tried refrigerating the batter overnight, baking it right after mixing it, and letting it sit for an hour on the kitchen counter (I think this last method worked best.)
I finally achieved what I thought were some pretty darn good muffins, each one studded with glorious chocolate chips. Are they just like the ones from my neighborhood supermarket? Probably not, but I think they’re pretty close.
I also love large muffins, so this recipe is for six jumbo ones. I hope you make these bakery-style chocolate chip muffins one Saturday morning and that they make your weekend that much sweeter.
Why You’ll Love These Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Easy to make: You need just two bowls to whip up these delicious muffins.
- Perfect for chocolate lovers: You have a good excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast!
- Can skip the bakery: Bakeries are convenient, but baked goods are more economical to make at home because so many of us have sugar, flour, etc., sitting in our pantries begging to be used. Plus, homemade goods often taste better than what we get from the store.
Key Ingredients
- Cake Flour: Cake flour yields a lighter muffin than all-purpose flour.
- Double-Acting Baking Powder: This helps the muffins rise more than standard baking powder.
- Dark Brown Sugar: This adds a richer and chewier texture compared to using white sugar alone.
- Low-Fat Buttermilk: This gives the muffins a slight tang and also adds moisture and “body.”
See the recipe card below for more information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make These Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Mix dry ingredients: Combine cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.
- Whisk wet ingredients: Whisk melted butter, oil, and sugars in a large bowl until combined. Add eggs and vanilla, whisk again, then stir in buttermilk.
- Combine and rest batter: Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips to the wet mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Let the batter rest for 45 to 60 minutes.
- Prepare muffin tin: Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a jumbo muffin tin and divide the batter evenly. Tap the pan to level and top with extra chocolate chips.
- Bake muffins: Bake for 8 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350°F and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.
- Cool and serve: Let muffins cool before serving.
Pro Tips
- Keep a close eye on your oven: My muffins come out ideal after a total baking time of 26 minutes, but your oven might require a couple of minutes more or less. It’s best to first test them when they’re likely still underbaked, and add 2 to 3 more minutes of baking time before rechecking them. You want to remove the muffins from the oven as soon as they are set. Insert a toothpick into them and remove pan from the oven when the toothpick comes out clean.
Suggestions for Variations and Substitutions
-You can use canola oil in place of the vegetable oil.
-Add more or fewer chocolate chips.
-Before baking the muffins, top them with some coarse or granulated sugar for crunch and extra sweetness.
-You can make 12 smaller muffins instead of 6 larger ones. For the 12, try baking the muffins at 425F for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to 350F, and bake for another 12 minutes, to start. Please note that these times are only an estimate.
Recipe FAQs
This helps the flour absorb more liquid and creates a thicker and moister muffin.
A likely culprit is too much baking soda, but this recipe doesn’t contain any. Another possibility is if you use silicone muffin liners and run them through the dishwasher, where the chemicals from the dishwashing soap can linger on their surface. You can hand wash the silicone instead, but I suggest using paper liners instead.
Storage
Refrigerator: These muffins can sit in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freezer: You can freeze these muffins for up to 2 months.
Defrost: Defrost at room temperature or warm one in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds on high power.
More Chocolate Recipes
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Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake flour (Note 1)
- 2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder (Note 2)
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup low-fat buttermilk room temperature (Note 3)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips plus a few more for garnish
Instructions
- Mix the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.2 cups cake flour 2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder ½ teaspoon fine salt
- Whisk together the melted butter, oil, and sugars in a large bowl with a mixer just until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk again until combined. Stir in the buttermilk with a spatula just until incorporated.4 tablespoons melted and cooled unsalted butter¼ cup vegetable oil½ cup granulated sugar½ cup dark brown sugar2 large eggs2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract¾ cup low-fat buttermilk
- Dump all the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, along with the chocolate chips, careful not to overmix. Mix just until everything is incorporated and no streaks or clumps of flour are visible. Allow the batter to sit at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour.Dry ingredients1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a jumbo 6-count muffin tin with muffin liners, and divide the batter evenly into each muffin cup. Gently bang the pan on the counter to help level the batter and ensure even filling. Top the batter in each muffin cup with more chocolate chips (about ¼ cup worth).
- Place the muffins on the oven's center rack and bake for 8 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F without opening the door, and bake the muffins for another 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven. Allow the muffins to cool a bit before enjoying them!