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After testing and perfecting muffins recipes for half a year, I am spilling all my secrets to making the absolute best chocolate peanut butter muffins.
Not only are these perfectly moist and decadent, but when you follow my 7 easy steps below you’ll be able to easily make bakery-style domed muffin tops that never fail to impress.
The Ultimate Peanut Butter Chocolate Muffins
I am so excited to add yet another amazing muffin recipe to my muffin collection. Peanut butter lovers, it’s time to get excited, because these are the absolute best chocolate peanut butter muffins you’ll ever try.
If you are a fan of chocolate and peanut butter combined, even better! By the way, who is not a fan of a chocolate peanut butter combo?!
With creamy peanut butter and rich cocoa powder, these homemade muffins come out perfectly moist and tender. My goal in spending so much time perfecting my muffin recipes has always been to create recipes that you can make at home, with no baking experience, that rival any professional bakery.
With that in mind, I have perfected this chocolate peanut butter muffin recipe into 7 easy steps.
In my opinion, muffins are an any time of day food, which makes them a breakfast food, perfect snack, after-dinner treat, or my personal favorite, a late-night snack to curb those chocolate cravings.
Keep reading below so you don’t miss all my best tips on measuring flour, creating perfect domed muffin tops, and baking perfectly moist muffins.
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins
- Perfect balance of chocolate and peanut butter flavor
- Great for snacks, dessert, or late night snacks!
- Uses everyday ingredients
- Moist, soft muffins with tender crumb
- Tall and domed muffin tops (bakery style!)
What You’ll Need for This Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins Recipe
The ingredient list for this muffins recipe is full of simple pantry ingredients, which come together to create delicious muffins.
Keep reading for all my professional muffin tips, including how to make that gorgeous, bakery-style dome on the top of the muffins. The full recipe with measurements and instructions is also below.
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Eggs
- Buttermilk
- Vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract
- Creamy peanut butter
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins
When you follow my 7 easy steps below, you’ll have a perfectly moist muffin with a bakery-style domed top. Keep reading for all by best tips and tricks, and the full recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together and set aside.
- In a larger mixing bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. The batter will be very thick.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes. During this time, preheat the oven to 425ºF / 220ºC.
- For bakery style muffins, line a 12-cup muffin pan with 6 muffins liners, meaning you’ll only fill every other muffin well with batter. Fill the liners with 2 tablespoons of batter.
- Heat the peanut butter in the microwave until melty. Drop 1⁄2 tbsp of peanut butter into each muffin cup. Use a toothpick to swirl. Then add 4-6 tablespoons of batter, covering the peanut butter. Top each muffin with 1⁄2 tbsp of peanut butter, swirling with a toothpick.
- Place one pan in the center of the oven and bake for 7 minutes at 425ºF / 220ºC, then keep the muffins in the oven, turn the temperature down to 350ºF / 180ºC and bake for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan. Repeat with the remaining batter, bumping the temperature back up to 425ºF / 220ºC.
How to Create Bakery Style Muffins
Bakery style muffins are known for their domed tops. Plus who doesn’t love them? I used a few techniques to help “lift” these muffins so they would have large, domed tops!
1. The Rest Period
Let the batter rest for 15 minutes after it’s mixed and before you scoop it into the muffin pan. During the resting period, starch molecules in the flour are absorbing the liquid in the batter, causing them to swell and giving the batter a thicker consistency (ref the kitchen whisper). Our 15 minute rest is just a quick rest.
2. Fill Every Other Muffin Cup
This tip has been a game changer! For bakery style muffin tops, line a 12 count muffin pan with 6 muffin liners, meaning you’ll only fill every other muffin well with batter. Filling every other cup allows the muffins to spread and dome without running into each other. This technique also encourages the muffins to brown, creating a golden muffin top.
3. Fill Them To The Top
Fill your muffin liners to the top with batter. Yes, this goes against everything you’re heard but it’s important in helping the muffin gain that height.
4. Bake at High Temperature Initially
Bake the muffins at a high temperature (425ºF) initially, then lower to 350ºF. Starting the muffins off at a higher temperature causes the batter to rise rapidly, setting the outer surface of the muffin, producing a dome shape.
How to Properly Measure Flour
The most accurate way to measure flour is to use a kitchen scale, weighing it in grams.
If you don’t have a kitchen scale, follow this method.
- Aerate the flour with a whisk or spoon. Flour becomes heavy and compact as it sits. Aerating is the same as fluffing the flour, but not the same as sifting it. Do not sift the flour unless the recipe specifically calls for it.
- Use a spoon to sprinkle the flour into the measuring cup. Do not tap the cup against the counter, as this will compact the flour.
- Use the back of a butter knife to level off the excess.
More Chocolate Peanut Butter Recipes
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, 360 grams
- 1 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder, 84 grams
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar, 300 grams
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cup buttermilk, 360 ml
- ½ cup vegetable oil, 118 ml
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup creamy peanut butter, 167 grams
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together and set aside.
- In a larger mixing bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. The batter will be very thick.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes. During this time, preheat the oven to 425ºF / 220ºC.
- For bakery style muffins, line a 12 count muffin pan with 6 muffins liners, meaning you’ll only fill every other muffin well with batter. Fill the liners with 2 tablespoons of batter.
- Heat the peanut butter in the microwave until melty. Drop 1⁄2 tbsp of peanut butter into each muffin cup. Use a toothpick to swirl. Then add 4-6 tablespoons of batter, covering the peanut butter. Top each muffin with 1⁄2 tbsp of peanut butter, swirling with a toothpick.
- Place one pan in the center of the oven and bake for 7 minutes at 425ºF / 220ºC, then keep the muffins in the oven, turn the temperature down to 350ºF / 180ºC and bake for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan. Repeat with the remaining batter, bumping the temperature back up to 425ºF / 220ºC.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
This recipe needs more of a remake because it is a little dry, makes more than the stated amount, and it is not as chocolatey. I think that there is too much cocoa because 1 cup is way too much and I would have used some type of chocolate pieces. In addition, I would have used sour cream to combat the denseness of the muffins. I won’t be trying this recipe again as I have tossed it in the trash.
How did you measure the flour? Did you measure by grams on a kitchen scale, did you aerate, then spoon the flour into the cup and level OR did you stick the measuring cup into the flour then level? All 3 of these methods change the actual weight of the flour – sometimes by adding an additional 1/2 cup without knowing it!
I measure all my flour in grams on a kitchen scale.
If you don’t have a kitchen scale, aerate the flour with a fork, use a spoon to spoon it into the measuring cup, then level it off with a kitchen knife.
My muffin batters are designed to be thick, because that helps create the dome. But measuring the flour correctly is critical, as well as proper bake time. As for your comment about using sour cream, buttermilk (which we use) and sour cream have the same acidity, but sour cream contains more fat.