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Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Muffins. Light and fluffy vanilla muffin batter made with salted butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and Greek yogurt. Swirled with plenty of semi-sweet chocolate chips and delicious gooey brown sugar. These bakery-style muffins are completely no fuss and SO DELICIOUS! They’re a wonderful muffin to enjoy anytime and so much better than the bakery!
It’s officially back-to-school time, and even though I hated the act of actually heading back to school, I was always excited for this time of year. As a kid, it meant back-to-school shopping, getting back into a routine, hopefully having regular family dinners, and seeing the return of Gilmore Girls! Plus, of course, the colorful fall season and Halloween!
I still love this time of year for all those same reasons. Well, I wish Gilmore Girls was still airing, but thankfully, Netflix has every season!
Since it’s back-to-school time, my recipes always include ” after-school snacks” and family-style dinners.
And with snacks, bakery muffins are my favorite. I used to LOVE chocolate chip muffins. Of course, mine usually just came from Marc’s, our grocery store in Cleveland, and they were usually from Entenmann’s Bakery.
I was recently in line at Dunkin Donuts for coffee when I saw the chocolate chip muffins. Once I saw those muffins, I knew what I was going home to make—a very updated (and better) bakery-style chocolate chip muffin.
The gooey brown sugar swirl is the secret.
These are the Details
Step 1: make the muffin batter
The batter starts with melted salted butter. Since there’s no banana or peanut butter, I wanted to add a little richness and saltiness.
Then a little maple syrup to sweeten, yogurt and milk for moisture, eggs, and lots of vanilla extract.
The dry is just my basic mix: all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Step 2: make the gooey brown sugar swirl
Mix everything in a bowl.
Brown sugar, apple butter, melted butter, and a pinch of salt. These will all smell so scrumptious together. If you’ve made my Brown Sugar Pop Tart Bars, this is the exact filling.
It is so delicious.
Step 3: swirl the muffins
Mix in a combination of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and regular semi-sweet chocolate chips. The variety of the two ensures a perfect chocolate muffin.
Then gently swirl the muffin batter with the gooey brown sugar.
Step 4: scoop the batter and bake
Now, just scoop the batter into paper-lined muffin cups and bake for about 25 minutes. They will come out of the oven with a little caramelization and the most delicious smell.
Is there anything more wonderful? Perfection.
Serve these with tea, coffee, hot cocoa, or even a steaming mug of cider if you’re really enjoying the cozy fall vibes.
Looking for other yummy bakery items?? Here are my favorites:
Giant Double Blueberry Muffin Cookies
Cream Cheese Swirled Cinnamon Carrot Cake Muffins
Baked Blueberry Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
Chocolate Chunk Chai Banana Muffins
Chocolate Chunk Rye Banana Bread
Easy Chocolate Cinnamon Crunch Knots
Lastly, if you make these Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Muffins, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Muffins
Servings: 16 muffins
Calories Per Serving: 362 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons (3/4 cup) salted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Brown Sugar Swirl
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup apple butter
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line 16 muffin tins with paper liners.2. In a bowl, stir together the butter, maple syrup, vanilla, eggs, yogurt, and milk. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. 3. To make the swirl, combine all ingredients in a bowl. Dollop it by the tablespoon over the muffin batter. Lightly swirl the mix, don't over mix it.4. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pan. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until the tops are just set. Enjoy warm with butter and sea salt.
This post was originally published on August 23, 2024
Amazing!! Making them a second time right now and the gooey swirl mixture is so yummy.
Thanks so much, Angie! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for making it! x
Can I use chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips? I really don’t like the chips because they don’t melt at all. Will it change texture too much?
Hi Caroline,
Totally, that will work nicely for you! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
Just made them and I will be making them forever now. They are SO good!
Hey Keenan,
Wonderful! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe, so glad to hear it was a winner! Have the best weekend! x
Hi, this looks amazing! Do you this could work if i made it dairy free? I’m al says skeptical of dairy swaps in baked goods with a lot of butter.
Hey Megan,
So sorry, I have never tried this recipe with dairy free products. I think you would be totally fine with dairy free milk and yogurt. For the butter I would try coconut oil. I hope this helps! xT
Every damn recipe comes out delish!!! Love you!!
Lol thanks so much, Lynette! Love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed! Have a great Friday! xT
These look amazing! Would there be a way to add some pumpkin to the recipe to make more pumpkin brown sugar muffins? Would you substitute for pumpkin puree or spices?
Hey Emily,
I would go ahead and use this recipe and bake into muffins, that will work nicely for you:
https://fett-weg.today/cinnamon-swirl-chocolate-chip-pumpkin-butter-bread/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> I hope this helps! xT
Hi! Could I recipe the maple syrup with equal parts brown sugar??
Hi Olivia,
Sure, that should work nicely for you! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
I love those muffin papers! What’s the brand or where does one purchase them?
Thanks so much, Laura! I get mine from Whole Foods! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try! xT
This question has been asked before, but it wasn’t ever answered. What exactly is a “bakery style muffin” as opposed to any other muffin? You refer to it, but then say your recipe is better than “bakery style”. Please explain for us who are confused.
Hey Alice,
I think of a bakery muffin as just a big, jumbo muffin:) I hope you love this recipe! x
Do these freeze well?
Hey Ali,
They sure do! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Is there a metric version of this for those of us that use weight instead of volume in baking?
Also, that seems like a lot of raising agent for a batch of muffins. Is that because you live in the mountains? Do I need to adjust anything for sea level in the Midwest! First time trying a recipe and these spoke to me!!
Hey Allyson,
Yes, just click on “metric” under the ingredient list and the measurements will adjust for you:) No need to adjust anything in the recipe, you can follow as written. xT
Pretty good flavor but mine were a bit sunken in. Tried adjusting the baking time but still no success. Anyone have ideas on how to fix this problem?
Hey Caroline,
Thanks so much for trying these muffins and your feedback! They might sink a little in the middle, it’s just the nature of them:) Glad to hear you enjoyed the flavors! xx
Ugh. These are delicious but did you use extra large muffin tins? I had a lot of batter. And my batter was drier than yours. I couldn’t swirl the topping in. I just put it on top. I used exact measurements that you gave. 🤷🏻♀️
Thanks so much for your comment, Crystal! So glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed, I appreciate you giving it a try! I used a regular sized muffin pan:) What did you use the applesauce for? Xx
These look delicious but I want to know if there is a substitute for the apple butter. That is an ingredient I don’t usually have.
Hey Anita,
You can just omit the apple butter in this recipe:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
I used applesauce. 🤷🏻♀️
These muffins are delicious! The crumb turned out perfectly, and the combo of chocolate and caramelized brown sugar was a winner. I will make these again!!
Thanks so much, Gail! Love to hear that you enjoyed these muffins, I appreciate you making them! xT
Hi! I’d love to try these and am wondering if I can use equal parts gluten free all purpose flour instead of regular flour? Thank you!
Hi Katie,
Yes, that should work nicely for you! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
My fam loved these! My husband said they were the best muffins I have ever made! We also love the bakery style chocolate chip muffins on this site (with the browned butter) but these with the swirl were especially amazing.
Thanks so much, Violet! I’m so glad to hear that your family enjoyed these muffins:) Thanks for giving them a try! xT
These are delicious! My husband and I are a bit disappointed that we can’t really taste the apple butter but overall still really yummy! Our house smells like fall! 🙂 Thank you!
We were able to convert this recipe to dairy and gluten free for those who are interested. These are the brands we used (no affiliation, just what we had in our kitchen): Miyoko’s Creamy *salted* plant based butter, Forager Project Organic Unsweetened plain yogurt, Enjoy Life allergen free chocolate chips, Bob’s Red Mills GF 1-1 Baking Flour… and then we used ducks eggs. I can’t eat chicken eggs and we raise ducks for eggs so we had them on hand too! It all worked out great!
Hey Devon,
So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for making it! Happy Labor Day! xT
The flavors sound good, but I love muffin tops…I always save that part for last! Any experienced bakers know how to tweak this to achieve a more traditional muffin instead of the flat one in this recipe?