Yield: 6 chocolate chip muffins // Total Time: 30 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. //

30 minutes, 6 deliciously light and fluffy chocolate chip muffins

Small batch chocolate chip muffins

These small batch chocolate chip muffins are so good, you’ll probably want to double them. They’re super light and fluffy, and we’re loading them with mini chocolate chips. I’m a firm believer that mini chocolate chips are the way to go in bakes like muffins and scones because they evenly spread out in your baked good and don’t leave you with random bites without any chocolate in them! We’re also going to top these off with a cinnamon streusel, because streusel is NEVER optional (okay but actually it is if you don’t like it haha.)

Recipe tips

Weigh your ingredients

• Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. Not weighing your ingredients can lead to adding too much or too little of an ingredient and can easily throw off a recipe. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend purchasing a kitchen scale. This one is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out! If you don’t have access to a scale, here is the best way to measure flour:
  • How to measure flour with cups: fluff up the flour with a fork, then use a spoon to scoop it into your measuring cup. Use a knife to level off the top of the cup, then use as directed.

Mix the batter carefully

• It is super important to not overmix the muffin batter. Overmixing the batter leads to more gluten development which will take your muffins from light and fluffy to tough and chewy. If you’ve ever had your muffin tops be super pointy – overmixing is also the culprit! Be sure to mix the flour gently into the batter, and stop mixing right when that last flour streak disappears.

Room temperature ingredients

• It is important for the ingredients to be at room temperature so that they properly incorporate with each other. Here’s how to get room temperature ingredients FAST if you’re in a time crunch or forgot to take the ingredients out (like I often do):
  • Egg: place the egg in a bowl and run hot water over it for 1 continuous minute, or let it sit in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.
  • Sour cream and milk: microwave each in 5-second intervals until it is no longer cold, but is not warm (room temp!)

keep an eye on those muffins!

• Muffins like to go from under-baked to over-baked super quickly so it is important to keep a close eye on them. Start checking at 14 minutes with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out wet, check them again in 2 minutes and so on until only a few moist crumbs stick to the toothpick.

How to get bakery style muffin tops

• The trick to getting those nicely domed muffin tops is (mostly) all in your oven’s temperature! Bake the muffins at 425°F / 220°C for 5 minutes. Then, without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 350°F / 175°C and continue baking until done. The super high heat will make the muffins rise nice and tall! You will also want to bake them lined in every other tin on the muffin pan, and fill them to the very top. This recipe makes the perfect amount of batter to fill every muffin liner straight to the top for those perfect muffin tops!

how to evenly distribute your muffin batter

• My favorite way to evenly distribute muffin batter is to use cookie scoops! Works perfectly every time. So long are the days of eyeballing which muffin may need a little more batter.

Ingredients and substitutions

For the streusel:

Unsalted butter: the base of the streusel, really what makes it buttery and delicious. You can use salted butter here as well!

Light brown sugar: for swetness, in a pinch you can use granulated sugar here.

All purpose flour: adds structure to the streusel.

Ground cinnamon: optional to give a little flavor to the streusel.

For the chocolate chip muffins:

All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.

Baking powder: for helping the muffins rise.

Baking soda: for helping the muffins rise.

Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the muffins.

Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the muffins.

Granulated sugar: for sweetening and helping lock in moisture.

Egg: for binding and for moisture.

Vanilla: for flavor. I use and love this vanilla extract!

Whole milk: for moisture. You can use 2%, 1% or your favorite plant-based milk here, just note that the texture may change and the muffins may be less light and fluffy. Note: I’ve also had great success replacing both the whole milk and sour cream with buttermilk!

Sour cream: for moisture and tenderizing the muffin batter. You can also substitute in greek yogurt here!

Chocolate chips: Use your favorite chocolate or chocolate chips here! I used mini chocolate chips so that the chocolate was fairly evenly spread out throughout the batter.

How to make small batch chocolate chip muffins

Here are the steps to follow to make my small batch chocolate chip muffins. You can find the complete recipe (which is printable!) at the end of this blog post.

MAKE THE CINNAMON STREUSEL

In a small bowl, melt the butter, then add in the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Use a fork to mix the ingredients together until you have formed little clumps of dough. Set aside.

Mix together the wet ingredients

In a medium sized mixing bowl, melt the butter. Whisk in the sugar, followed by the egg, vanilla, milk, and sour cream.

Fold in the dry ingredients.

Add in the flour, baking powder/soda, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few streaks of flour remain. Then, fold in the chocolate chips just until no flour streaks remain.

Distribute the muffin batter evenly between the muffin liners. Top each muffin with some of the streusel, and additional chocolate chips if desired.

Bake

We’ll start the muffins out at 425°F for 5 minutes, which will help them rise up nice and tall. Without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350°F / 175°C for the remainder of the baking time.

Small batch chocolate chip muffins Q & A

Can I double this recipe?

Of course! Obviously they will not be small batch anymore but small batch isn’t always what we need! Simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe to make 12 delicious chocolate chip muffins. However, I even more strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.

How to store muffins

Like most baked goods, these muffins will definitely taste the best on the day that they are baked. They will last for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

A note on oven temperature

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature. For example, I always have to set my oven to 330°F if I want it to bake at 350°F. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

Tools and ingredients

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!