Moist Chocolate Muffins with Buttermilk
Rich and chocolatey, these moist chocolate muffins with buttermilk are perfect with morning coffee or tea. And it’s hard to eat just one!
Recipe Mood: Chocolate for Breakfast
Indulgence Level: Medium
Effort Level: Easy
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Be still my heart when I eat chocolate for breakfast—I’m looking at you, bakery-style chocolate chip muffins. If this shameless act is a dream come true for you, too, you’ll want to make these moist chocolate muffins with buttermilk.
They taste wonderful and freeze beautifully, so you can pop one in the microwave whenever you crave a warm chocolate muffin first thing in the morning or for a mid-day snack.
When baking muffins, I usually make six jumbo ones because I often can’t eat a standard one without wondering where the rest are. Although I make the standard 12 muffins here to mix it up, feel free to make them jumbo instead.
You can also make 24 mini ones to pop in your mouth like bonbons. Whatever makes you happy.
I offer suggestions for variations and substitutions below, but I want to remind everyone that baking is a fickle beast, so swapping out certain ingredients for others or altering measurements carries more risk than reward.
Even a minor tweak can alter the consistency and/or taste of baked goods, so be aware that any alterations will likely not yield the same results as those achieved with this recipe.
Why You’ll Love These Moist Chocolate Muffins with Buttermilk
Perfect size: Not too big, not too small, but it may be hard to eat just one.
Moist and tender every time: Thanks to buttermilk, oil, and melted butter, these muffins stay moist without being heavy or greasy. They’re soft, rich, and indulgent.
Bakery-worthy texture and rise: The high initial oven temperature helps give these muffins a dome shape, while cake flour keeps the crumb tender and soft inside.
Key Ingredients
- Cake Flour: This helps create a lighter and softer muffin.
- Double-Acting Baking Powder: This yields larger muffins than regular baking powder.
- Low-Fat Buttermilk: This helps tenderize the batter and gives a slightly tangy flavor.
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See the recipe card below for more information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make This Recipe
- Prep pan & oven: Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a 12-count muffin tin or use paper liners. Set aside.
- Make cocoa mixture: Whisk cocoa powder with boiling or hot water until smooth. Let cool.
- Mix dry ingredients: In a small bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Blend wet ingredients: In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to blend granulated sugar, brown sugar, melted butter, and oil. Add the cocoa mixture, blend briefly, then mix in eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk.
- Combine & fold: Using a spatula, gently stir the dry ingredients and chocolate chips into the wet ingredients until just combined. Don’t overmix. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes to thicken.
- Fill & bake: Divide batter evenly into muffin cups. Top with extra chocolate chips. Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 15 minutes more.
- Cool: Let muffins cool in the pan before removing.
Pro Tips
Use low speed on your electric mixer to blend the cocoa powder: Dry cocoa powder is messy, but it can erupt like a volcano when liquified. Turn the electric mixer to the lowest speed when incorporating the wet cocoa powder into the other ingredients. You can also mix it in with a spatula.
Variations & Substitutions
-Use any chocolate chips you prefer: semi-sweet, milk, dark chocolate, or a mix of different ones.
-Use whole-fat Greek yogurt or whole-fat sour cream in equal ratios to the buttermilk.
-Before baking the muffins, top them with some coarse or granulated sugar for crunch and extra sweetness.
-Make 6 jumbo muffins instead of 12 standard ones. For the 6 jumbo, bake the muffins at 425F for 8 minutes, then lower the heat to 350F and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
This can happen if you overmix the batter or overbake the muffins. Mix until just combined, and keep a close eye on the muffins toward the end of the baking time.
Sometimes, the culprit is too much baking soda, but none is in this recipe. Do you use silicone liners and wash them in the dishwasher? If so, they can absorb the dishwashing soap over time and emit this “flavor” into the muffins as they bake. This happened to me once, and it took me some time to figure it out. I recommend sticking to paper liners!
Storage
Refrigerator: Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Freezer: Freeze the muffins for up to 3 months.
Defrost: Place a muffin in the microwave for about 20 seconds on high power.
More Muffin Recipes
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Moist Chocolate Muffins with Buttermilk
Ingredients
- ½ cup boiling or very hot water
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups cake flour spooned and leveled (Note 1)
- 2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder preferably aluminum-free
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
- ¼ cup vegetable oil or canola oil
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk room temperature
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Generously grease a jumbo 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with muffin liners. Set aside.
- Pour the boiling or hot water over the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Set aside to let it cool.
- Whisk together the cake flour, double-acting baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, blend the granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, melted butter, and vegetable oil with an electric mixer, just until mixed.
- Pour in the liquified cocoa powder and blend on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and blend until just combined. Stir in the buttermilk with a spatula.
- Use the spatula to stir the dry ingredients into the wet, along with the semi-sweet chocolate chips, until everything is just combined, careful not to overmix. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes to thicken.
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Fill each of the 12 large muffin tins evenly with the batter. Top the muffins with extra chocolate chips.
- Bake at 425F for 5 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350F and bake for 15 minutes. If you're oven runs hot, check the muffins after 12 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the muffins to cool before handling them. Enjoy!
These muffins are awesome! They’re so moist and chocolatey, and they taste great.