These Chocolate Chip Muffins have a beautiful golden dome top (we all know muffin tops are the best part!) and are nice and moist inside, not dry and crumbly which is a notorious problem with muffins. No stand mixer required, you just need a wooden spoon and 10 minutes.
This muffin recipe is a great base recipe for sweet muffins. The chocolate chips can be substituted with anything you want. Blueberries, raspberries, nuts, apple – let your imagination run wild!
Muffins are one of those recipes that many people think / say are really easy to make but in actual fact, I think a lot come out quite disappointing. The biggest problem being muffins that are dry and hard. I’ve made muffins in my time that I swear were as hard as baseballs!
Over baking is one culprit for this. But the batter is also a contributor. To avoid dry muffins, some recipes make the batter by creaming butter in a stand mixer. But it’s ingrained in my mind that muffins should be a fast recipe, and creaming butter doesn’t qualify!
The other way is to make the muffins using both baking powder AND baking soda / bi carb (which is baking powder on steroids) for extra lift power, plus buttermilk for moistness and also to activate the baking soda (which requires something with acid like milk + vinegar, yoghurt, sour cream or buttermilk to activate it).
This is my chosen method that I have always used. I know there are many muffin recipes out there that do not use baking soda and/or buttermilk. But they are not as moist and fluffy as these. I have made more than my share in my lifetime in a bid to find the moistest muffin with the least ingredients possible, and concluded that it is not possible to omit these without compromising the muffin!
And the good news? You don’t have to use buttermilk. You can substitute with milk and vinegar, left to curdle. I don’t always recommend that as a substitute, but for this recipe, I can barely tell the difference. Actually, I can’t tell the difference.
I know curdled milk doesn’t look very pretty, but I wanted you to see what it looks like because this is the magic ingredient in this recipe!
My “go to” sweet muffin base recipe used to be a Ina Garten blueberry muffin recipe. It really is a wonderful moist muffin BUT the batter is slightly thinner than this one so the choc chips sink to the bottom (even when I tossed in flour which is a trick that usually works for things like berries, like what I use for my Blueberry Lemon Loaf).
So now this recipe is my base recipe, and it has never failed me. My recipe is slightly adapted from this brilliant Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe by Little Sweet Baker. This recipe is BETTER than Ina Gartens, I’ve tried both!
PS I top the muffins with extra chocolate chips so they are visible when they come out of the oven. This is optional. 🙂
If you don’t use paper patties and spray the muffin tin instead, the tops will spill over and become a bit crispy, just like muffins you get from some bakeries. My personal preference is to use paper patties because clean up is easier and I think it looks prettier, but it is entirely up to you!
Happy weekend! What have you got planned? Maybe baking some MUFFINS??? 😉 – Nagi x
PS These freeze fabulously. Promise. I’ve been eating frozen ones all week!
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Best Chocolate Chip Muffin
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups / 375g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda / bi carb soda
- 1 cup / 220g white sugar (Note 1)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup / 250ml buttermilk (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup / 60g unsalted butter, melted
- 4 tbsp / 80 ml vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, lightly whisked
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Chips
- 1 3/4 cups / 300g chocolate chips (US: semi-sweet)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F (all ovens) (Note 6). Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper patties.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl. Stir through chocolate chips.
- In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, melted butter, oil, eggs and vanilla.
- Make a well in the flour bowl, pour in egg mixture. Mix until just combine - try not to stir more than 8 times. Some flour lumps in the batter is fine.
- Divide batter between paper cases. Top with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
- Bake for 5 minutes, then turn down to 180C/350F (fan forced/convection) and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
- Remove muffins from the muffin tin immediately onto a cooling rack.
- Serve warm or at room temperature (warm is extra yum!)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer: Getting waaaaaay too close to the muffins…… But I can’t blame him. The smell as these were cooling must’ve been torture for him!!!
Count the muffins: Yes there is 1 missing. Restraint is imposed on Dozer by me. There was no one around to control ME.
Lorraine Gillett says
Hi Nagi. I’m looking forward to making these muffins with my grandchildren in the school holiday. Do the tops come out sticky?. I like to make cupcakes with the grandchildren but each time I find the tops go very sticky after they have cooled, can you tell me why please. Advice would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you.
Nagi says
Hi Lorraine! That’s just what happens with most baked goods with sugar in them. 🙂 I wouldn’t say these go very sticky though. No one has ever commented on the sticky tops of these muffins before! N x
Easy Peasy Life Matters says
I love muffins! And with chocolate? Even better!!! 🙂
Nagi says
Muffins are da BOMB!!! Yet to meet a muffin I don’t love! N x
Britt | Sweet Tea & Thyme says
You’re about to cause a sugar high in my family, because my toddler and I will probably eat all of these in one go. Wish my husband luck dealing with us, lol.
Nagi says
BA HA HA!!! The two of you bouncing off the walls on a sugar high – love the vision!! N x
Felicity Beadle says
Nagi – I want to reach in to my screen and grab a muffin and give Dozer a big hug at the same time. His pics are the perfect way to finish your recipe posts. The cherry on the top, so to speak.
I make muffins most weekends for my kids to enjoy fresh out of the oven, but have never soured the milk for muffins. Going to try it next time. Thanks. We’ve all just sat down to the yummiest Brioche Bake (soaked in egg, cream, milk, and a touch of maple syrup and vanilla over night) and just baked with blueberries and pecans, topped with grilled bacon Great on a wet winter’s day.
Actually I now have a fabulous pikelet recipe that has soured milk in it and wow, they are the bomb.
Thanks for this muffin recipe, am sure it will become a favourite.
Nagi says
WOAH, now that is what I call a french toast bake! YUM!!! Feel free to smash your screen to give Dozer a hug, he would LOVE IT 😉 Hope you have a fab weekend Felicity! N x
babycakes5 says
Hi Nagi,
I recently found your wonderful blog. I have a general question about your baking recipes. How do you measure flour? As I’m sure you are well aware, the gram or ounces weight of a cup of flour varies widely with the method used. Do you dip your measuring cup into the flour and sweep off the excess, or spoon the flour into the cup? Do you have an ounce or gram weight for a cup of flour that you use consistently? I prefer to weigh dry ingredients for accuracy, and I wondered if you will list the grams or ounces in future recipes. Thank you!
Nagi says
Hi babycakes5! Thank you for your excellent question. I have now added weight measurements which I keep forgetting to add! I level off the cups when I measure flour. For this recipe as with all baking recipes, I always test them using Australia and US cup measures and I have started adding weight measurements too. 🙂 I hope that helps!
babycakes5 says
Thanks! Can’t wait to make these muffins!
Sue says
Nagi, with your oven temp, is 200C for a fan forced setting or should I use 180C fan forced? Did you know that Auto text turns your name into Magic?
Nagi says
Hi Sue!!! So I now I will know what you mean when if you write “Magic” in a message! HA HA!!! It’s fan forced, thanks for the question I will update the recipe! N x
lindsay Cotter says
I think they are perfect. But where’s my lemon chocolate chip cookie? hehe.
Nagi says
OMG that was a disaster. And a friend of mine STILL scoffed a load of them down!!!!
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
I haven’t made muffins in quite a while but I can see where mine are different than yours — yours look moister than mine. My batter seems to stay in the scoop where yours are looser. I’ll have to try your recipe 🙂 Poor Dozer! How long did you make him stay before you released him. I’m sorry if you pulled that with me I’d probably growl at you and grab a muffin, anyway. Great recipe — I’m anxious to try it.
Nagi says
That’s the type of batter I used to have until I found this one 🙂 Ina Garten’s batter is even looser – too loose for choc chips. Can’t imagine you GROWLING!!!! 😉 N x
Julia @ HappyFoods says
Love the look on Dozer’s face haha! These muffins look so delicious, will definitely make them!
Nagi says
We have similar looks when eyeing food…. 😉 Hope you have a great weekend Julia! N x
Dorothy Dunton says
Hi Nagi! Muffins are always a favorite here! I just made Kevin’s strawberry muffins (although mine were raspberry due to unavailability of strawberries). I love the simplicity of your recipe…and, just a wooden spoon! Dozer is exercising great restraint, unlike someone else! 🙂 Gary calls it a quality control check.
Nagi says
I like the way Gary thinks! 🙂 Must give Kevin’s muffins a try myself…. 5 out of 5? N x