These delicious raspberry white chocolate muffins have a bakery-style sky-high texture while not being too sweet. This lets the tangy fruit and toasted white chocolate chips shine in this raspberry muffin recipe.
Why This Recipe Works
Bakery-style muffins are a thing of glory.
Unlike traditional muffins which have a cakey texture, bakery-style muffins are denser and more moist.
Not only that, but they also get that beautiful domed, sky-high look that comes from the muffins rising instead of out. This is the result of having the right combination of baking powder to baking soda, as well as cooking the ingredients at the right temperature to get the steam to push the muffins into that signature style.
This raspberry muffin recipe meets all those requirements, plus the thick batter makes it ideal for holding the raspberries and white chocolate chips so they don't sink to the bottom.
What's Goes Into the Recipe?
To make these raspberry white chocolate muffins you need:
- Flour. All-purpose is going to hold up the best, but if you want a more delicate and flaky muffin, try using pastry flour.
- Sugar. Granulated white sugar helps hold the moisture in these muffins.
- Baking Powder & Soda. You need both to get the leavening action that causes the domed top.
- Buttermilk. The acid in the buttermilk not only gives the muffin a bit of extra flavor and accentuates the natural flavor of the raspberries, but it also works as the activator for baking soda.
- Eggs. Eggs impact baked goods in so many ways. They work as a binder to hold the muffins together, as well as adding moisture.
- Vanilla Extract. This is there for flavor and can be replaced with 1 teaspoon of your favorite alternative extract.
- Melted butter. This fat provides moisture, flavor, and tenderness to the muffin. You can substitute half of it with oil if you prefer, but don't substitute it all.
- Raspberries. Fresh, firm raspberries work best, but frozen can work in a pinch.
- White Chocolate Chips. If you can find mini white chocolate chips they will distribute the flavor throughout the muffin batter. However, they are a rare find, so standard chips work fine.
- Coarse Sugar (Turbinado Sugar). A sprinkling of this on to gives that final bakery-style touch to the muffins. Sugar in the raw works well for that extra texture and crunch!
How To Make This Recipe
Start by sifting together the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Stir in the raspberries and white chocolate chips so that they are evenly coated in the flour mixture.
Set aside.
In a separate, larger bowl whisk together the wet ingredients.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet.
Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet until JUST COMBINED.
To ensure a soft and tender muffin, you do not want to overmix. You may notice not lumps in the batter because it is so thick but leave them there. That's normal.
You only need 15-20 strokes to get this batter together.
Prepare a muffin tin by either coating each tin with oil or using cupcake liners.
Even if you use liners, lightly dampen a paper towel with a neutral oil and spread it on the top of the muffin pan. This helps the domed muffins release easier after baking.
Fill each muffin tin to the top and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for five minutes.
Reduce the heat in the oven and continue to bake another 12-15 minutes. DO NOT open the door at any point during baking.
Once the muffins are finished, remove them from the oven and let them sit until cooled.
How To Get The Bakery-Style Texture
This raspberry muffin recipe gets its bakery-style texture in multiple ways.
- Filling the muffin cups to the very top ensures that the batter spills over a little and gets that quintessential domed top.
- Start baking at a higher temperature. This forces the batter to rise from the quick creation of steam. Without it, the muffins would mostly bake out, not up. This also gives them that beautiful crackly top.
- Reduce the temperature for the rest of the baking. This helps the top of the muffin to start spreading out for that domed shape.
Expert Tips
- This raspberry muffin recipe is intentionally less sweet. This is to help the white chocolate and raspberries really shine. For a more traditionally sweet muffin, use one cup of sugar instead of ½.
- Make sure your liquid ingredients and eggs are at room temperature. This helps the thick batter come together faster and cuts down the risk of overmixing.
- Grease the top of the muffin pan to make sure that the muffins release easily from the pan.
- The white chocolate chips that are exposed on top will get beautifully toasted in the oven. This creates a more caramelized flavor that is absolutely delicious in this raspberry muffin recipe. If you want more of this, reserve some of the chocolate chips to sprinkle on top with the sugar.
- This recipe makes 12 traditional raspberry white chocolate muffins or 6 jumbo ones. The baking time for jumbo may need an extra 5-10 minutes.
- White chocolate chips don't melt the same as standard chocolate chips. This is because they have more cocoa butter in them. As a result, the white chocolate chips won't melt into the batter during cooking, but rather hold their shape and texture.
- Don't have buttermilk? Combine 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar with one cup of any milk. (Including non-dairy milk.)
- To help measure out the muffins perfectly, use a standard ice cream scoop size: #24. These will bring the batter to the top of the muffin liner when filled up all the way.
- DO NOT overbake these muffins. Cook them only as long as it takes for the batter to finish baking, not a minute longer. This keeps them from getting dry.
- When you reduce the temperature of the oven, don't open the oven. The process of the temperature reduction is factored into the chemistry of the recipe and opening the door will make them less moist.
FAQ's
Yes, you can, and it is better to add them in while still frozen. This does create a new dynamic for baking though because it creates extra steam that needs to cook off for the rest of the batter to bake completely. This means you may need to extend the cooking time further for the raspberry muffin recipe to be completely done.
The first step is to not overmix them. Mix them only by hand, not in a mixer. Also, no matter the recipe, the batter shouldn't take more than 15-20 strokes to come together. Beyond that, you can over-activate the gluten and cause the muffins to become chewy.
Overbaking is the first mistake that comes with dry muffins. Only cook them until they are just barely done. Beyond that, use richer ingredients like buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt butter, or extra egg yolks all can increase the muffin's moisture.
Related Recipes
For more great breakfast recipes, I recommend:
Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
- 2½ cups All-Purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk, see notes for substitutions
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
- ⅔ cup white chocolate chips
- 1½ cups fresh raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Grease the top of the muffin pan and line with paper liners.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Whisk together and gently fold in the chocolate chips and raspberries. Set aside.
- In a larger bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla extract and melted butter. Pour in the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to fold everything together until JUST COMBINED. (Do not overmix, it should take 20 strokes or less and lumps are okay.)
- Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups filling them to the brim . Bake for 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for another 12-15 minutes (see note #9), or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and enjoy warm.
Video
Notes
- These muffins are intentionally less sweet. This is to help the white chocolate and raspberries really shine. For a more traditionally sweet muffin, use one cup of sugar instead of ½.
- Make sure your liquid ingredients and eggs are at room temperature. This helps the thick batter come together faster and cuts down the risk of overmixing.
- Grease the top of the muffin pan to make sure that the muffins release easily from the pan.
- The white chocolate chips that are exposed on top will get beautifully toasted in the oven. This creates a more caramelized flavor that is absolutely delicious in this raspberry muffin recipe. If you want more of this, reserve some of the chocolate chips to sprinkle on top with the sugar.
- This recipe makes 12 traditional raspberry white chocolate muffins or 6 jumbo ones. The baking time for jumbo may need an extra 5-10 minutes.
- White chocolate chips don't melt the same as standard chocolate chips. This is because they have more cocoa butter in them. As a result, the white chocolate chips won't melt into the batter during cooking, but rather hold their shape and texture.
- Don't have buttermilk? Combine 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar with one cup of any milk. (Including non-dairy milk.)
- To help measure out the muffins perfectly, use a standard ice cream scoop size: #24. These will bring the batter to the top of the muffin liner when filled up all the way.
- DO NOT overbake these muffins. Cook them only as long as it takes for the batter to finish baking, not a minute longer. This keeps them from getting dry.
- When you reduce the temperature of the oven, don't open the oven. The process of the temperature reduction is factored into the chemistry of the recipe and opening the door will make them less moist.
What are your thoughts?