Chocolate Chip Muffins

As a dessert and breakfast, these chocolate chip muffins will be a morning go-to for anyone with a sweet tooth! They also make a fantastic homemade food gift for teachers, neighbors, and friends. This recipe uses a combo of oil, butter, and buttermilk for muffins that are moist, fluffy, and tender. Mini and regular chocolate chips allow for a little more chocolate in every bite and look fantastic on top of each muffin. Oh, and here's an easy trick: Use an ice cream scoop to portion the batter into each muffin cup. It's the quickest way to get evenly sized muffins! Take one for breakfast on the go, bake a whole batch for the school bake sale, or round out the weekend by prepping a dozen to enjoy all week long. Come Monday morning, you'll thank yourself for every sweet, chocolaty bite of these bakery-style muffins! 

What's the secret to bakery-style muffins?

Bakery muffins are indeed glorious, and there's a few steps you can take at home to achieve similar results. First, fill your muffin tin cups to the top with batter so that the muffins turn out big and beautiful. Second, sprinkle extra chocolate chips and coarse sparkling sugar onto the top of each muffin cup before it heads in the oven so that the finished product is studded with chocolate chips on top and glistens from the crunchy sugar. Another trick is to start baking the muffins at a high temperature and then lower the temperature after about 5 minutes. In this recipe, the muffins begin baking at 400 degrees and finish baking at 350 degrees. This creates kickstarts the leavening agents in the muffins and results in a taller muffin top. 

What is the muffin method?

The muffin method is a baking school term for a recipe that mixes dry and wet ingredients separately, then combines them all at once (many cakes and quick breads are also made this way). Be sure to mix the batter just until combined so the muffins bake up light and tender.

What can you substitute for buttermilk?

If you don't have buttermilk in the house, check the pantry for of our tried-and-true buttermilk substitutes. Plain milk wouldn't be a good swap here—the acidity is needed to react with the baking powder and soda for a tender, fluffy muffin. 

What is sparkling sugar?

Sparkling sugar is made without molasses, like granulated sugar, but has a coarser texture. Use it to add a finishing sparkle to muffins and cookies. If you don't have any on hand, use regular, granulated sugar for the sweet finish.

What's the best way to store muffins?

These muffins will stay fresh for a few days stored in an airtight container at room temperature. You could also freeze them and defrost one or two anytime a craving strikes! It's best to avoid refrigerating muffins, though, as it can dry them out.