Low Carb Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins ( Gluten Free too!)

Once upon a time in Canada, a small coffee chain called Tim Horton’s had great baked goods.  I’m really dating myself here because this was a long long time ago.  If you happened to visit a Tim Horton’s back in the day you may remember their epic bakery style chocolate chip muffins.    

These muffins were the size of your fist and had the best muffin top ever.  The tops were heavily coated in flakey bits of sugar and extra chocolate chips.  The muffin tops were memorable!   

I set out to remake these muffins without the sugar and gluten but tried to keep all the best parts from the original. 

The best part, of course, being the muffin tops! 

Love the idea of bakery-style muffins? These chocolate chip muffins are just the start! For even more keto-friendly muffin ideas, don’t miss out on this collection of 11 muffin recipes. Each one brings a new flavor to enjoy, all while staying low-carb.

 

What sets bakery-style chocolate chip muffins apart from the rest?

The crumb. 

And that leads us back to the second-best thing about the old-school Tim Horton’s chocolate chip muffins – the texture.  They were not light at all, they were quite heavy, with a dense crumb.  That crumb was fantastic and not easy to duplicate.   I tried, a lot, I mean a lot.  This muffin recipe is the reason why I haven’t posted in a week! 

I made this muffin recipe five flipping times before I was finally happy with the crumb. 

Perfect for low carb and gluten-free diets.  If you want to make these muffins keto friendy make them a tad smaller.  A mini muffin pan would half the carb count.  Since the muffins are dense and heavy, making them smaller isn’t a bad idea anyway.   

Tips to get the Low Carb Chocolate Muffin batter Perect

So this recipe really highlights the chocolate chips you use. My suggestion is to use a chocolate chip that you really like.  I like Lily’s but also made these with a few sugar-free chocolate bars from a local chocolatier and they were fantastic.      

A few things will ensure you get a nice dense crumb with this recipe. 

• The first one is to whip your eggs and egg yolks together until they hit the ribbon stage.  That’s a light glossy yellow batter that falls back into the bowl and leaves ribbons behind.   
• The second trick is to only gently fold in the dry ingredients until just blended. 
• To get that spectacular muffin top, add a teaspoon full of erythritol to the tops and a few extra chocolate chips pressed into the batter. 
• Don’t skip the Xanthan gum.  The Xanthan gum in this recipe acts as a binder and helps to hold everything together.   If you do not have xanthan gum on hand, check out this list of possible substitutes. 

What Sweeteners Can you use in this recipe?

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Use your favorite 1:1 sugar substitute.  

For the muffin tops use granular erythritol.  I tried using allulose but it browns too quickly.  Erythritol has the benefit of crystalizing when it cools and for these muffin tops that is ideal.  

For the muffin batter, powered is preferred over granular, as it blends better and has a nicer texture.  You can absolutely use granular, I just prefer the powdered.   Any granular style sweetener will work here, erythritol, allulose, bocca sweet, and monk fruit (for example) 

If you don’t have powdered erythritol or xylitol and only have granular, go ahead and give it a blast with a high-speed blender or food processor.  

Swerve and stevia will work here as well, if this is your preferred sweetener, go ahead and use them, just know that it won’t work as well for the tops of the muffins. 

Just remember, xylitol is poisonous to dogs and cats, so if that’s your choice and you have little furry friends running around, be aware that it can be deadly for them. 

STorage suggestions For your Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins. 

You can freeze these bad boys.  The recipe makes 14-16 regular size muffins.  Make em, hang on to a few, and freeze the rest for another day.  They freeze beautifully too.  To defrost, leave them out at room temp to defrost, and zap in the microwave for 10-15 second to heat up a tiny bit. 

The muffins will last 3-4 days if left out on the counter, but they are best the first 48 hours.  

This goes without saying, but they go great with a hot cup of coffee.   

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