Chocolate chip cookies are much like banana bread where everyone seems to have their own favorite recipe and thinks theirs is the best. Most recipes I’ve seen use butter. Don’t get me wrong, butter is G-O-O-D. I love using butter in my recipes. But with chocolate chip cookies, butter makes them not only chewy (which I love) but also a bit greasy on the bottom and they tend to spread more. They are more susceptible to crumbling and aren’t always easy to remove from the cookie sheet. That is why I love that this recipe uses shortening instead of butter.
I have no idea where this recipe comes from other than my mom started making them more than 10 years ago when she got the recipe from a friend. These cookies are firm but chewy and the bottoms are non greasy and so easy to remove after baking. They have a great flavor and texture and freeze great. My husband can’t get enough! The nuts are totally optional and are just there as a personal preference.
Ingredients
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips (milk chocolate or chocolate chunks are our favorite!)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
Beat shortening, brown sugar and white sugar together until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.
In separate bowl stir together flour, salt and soda and add to sugar and egg mixture. Mix well.
Add chocolate chips and walnuts if desired and stir.
Drop by tablespoons (or larger if you like) on cookie sheet. I highly recommend cooking them on parchment paper. No added grease and they come off so easily! (Not to mention a super simple cleanup!)
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown, enjoying the lovely aroma now in your kitchen. Cool for a minute or so before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies - Really!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup chocolate chips milk chocolate or chocolate chunks are our favorite!
- 1 cup chopped walnuts optional
Instructions
-
Beat shortening, brown sugar and white sugar together until creamy.
-
Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.
-
In separate bowl stir together flour, salt and soda and add to sugar and egg mixture. Mix well.
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Add chocolate chips and walnuts if desired and stir.
-
Drop by tablespoons (or larger if you like) on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.
-
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown, enjoying the lovely aroma now in your kitchen. Cool for a minute or so before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Good luck keeping them in your kitchen as they disappear fast!
YUM!!!!!
My mother made them this way for years. I got away from that and used the butter recipe on the bag. But still remember the thicker cookies my mother made and how good they were. This year I’m going back to her recipe (the one on this page).
These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made!!!! The shortening makes a very good cookie! Thanks for the
recipe……….
I use butter flavor shortening in my cookies, too. I agree that it makes them a great consistency and flavor! I’m going to have to try out your recipe, as well! Looks yum!
they look great! I love trying new chocolate chip cookie recipes! I’ve never tried a shortening version though. What can I say, I love butter 🙂
I was gonna ask about butter flavored shortening. I’m gonna make them for my bake sale this week. 🙂 woot! Thanks.
It’s sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good
Thanks! printed it out and can’t wait to try it.
YUMMY!!! I always put nuts in mine too but I use pecans! Try that sometime. I will definitely try adding walnuts to mine next time. These look so good I may have to make some very soon! Thank you!
They look wonderful! And I had to laugh at the “Everyone has their own recipe and thinks it’s the best”. So true! I think every family has their own choc chip cookie recipe passed down, haha!
MMM, I agree that shortening makes a yummier cookie! I also use the butter flavored kind.. so good!
So good!!
OH Yum!!! Will have to try this recipe 🙂
I’ve never tried cookies with shortening. Might have to try.. 🙂
These look so good. I too have only tired recipes that called for butter. But I will definitely be trying yours. I just hope they come out looking as nice! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Love your blog AND I love, love these cookies!!! This recipe is a very slightly altered version of the classic Crisco Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I just discovered it a couple months ago along with the many uses of shortening. I come from an area in California where it’s pretty much a sin to use shortening but sometimes it’s just the best option to keep things perfectly moist! Ssshhhhh….don’t tell the Mommies at our school bakesale!!
I’m so happy to hear that! And I know, sometimes I feel guilty for loving the taste of shortening in baking but I can’t help myself. It works so well for keeping baked goods together and as you said, moist. So happy to have you stop by and hope to see you again soon! 🙂
This recipe was absolutely delicious, amazingly soft, spread perfectly and tasted amazing.
Thank you! I am baking a batch right now 🙂 I also pinned it for later reference.
Omgoodness hubby and I just ate of one these each 😀 warm out of the oven, the ONLY thing I would change about this recipe is that I would use the butter flavored crisco only because I like a little butter flaver. Mine turned out great 😀 crispy around the outside and chewy in the middles also they had a little poof to them and didnt just smear out into a puddle 😀 Thank you so much, this is a keeper for sure
Carmen
Agreed, just made these and they are the perfect texture but are missing that addicting butter flavor. Thanks for the recipie!
I just made these cookies 20 mins ago… FANTATSIC!!! thank you!!!
O myy word! I was looking for a chocolate chip cookie reciepe where I can use shortening instead of butter. Just took my first batch out tried one, it taste great. I like this reciepe because I didnt have to freeze the dough first. They turned perfect! This is now saved under one of my favorites. Thanks a bunches:)
Just made these. I too used the butter flavored shortening. They came out soooooo good & actually looked like the pic. Thanks so much for a great recipe 🙂
Just made these. I will never, ever use another recipe again. Soooo good. And soo dangerous. Thank you for this recipe.????
So happy to hear you love them too! They are definitely addicting which is both good and bad. 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to comment, and I hope to see you around again soon!
I made these while I was snowed in and ran out of butter. They were AMAZING!!! By far the BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever made and I’m about to make them again. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
These were a hit in our high altitude home! We have been looking for a cookie recipe that will stay fat and happy and not fat and runny! This is now our “go to” chocolate chip cookie recipe! Thanks from Farmington, New Mexico Altitude 5400
Hi! I am making these cookies for a church function and baking a TON so I want to start early. Can you advise on the freezing you mentioned up top. Freeze as dough or as baked cookies? How long before eating should I take them back out? Will they be just as yummy if frozen?? 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to comment. My mom loves to freeze these cookies and does all the time after they are baked. They do taste just as good when they thaw and can be frozen up to about 6 weeks for the best results. They only take a couple of hours to thaw out. She freezes them about 12 to a bag in a freezer bag and just takes them out when she feels like cookies. 🙂
Hope that helps and good luck with your church function!
I have been looking for a great cookie recipe for years and this is it! I used butter flavored shortening and have never made more beautiful, tastey cookies. I also added a cup of dried currants and pistachios. The pistachios made the cookies fairly salty, but I like that. This is also great because my lactose free friends can eat them! Thank you!!
At long last, CCC with shortening. Thank you! I know they’re delicious!
These cookies are perfect. I cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes and the results are a beautiful perfectly thick cookie. I use butter flavored Crisco. My go to chocolate chip cookie recipe. Perfect every time.
Great recipe. I tossed in some leftovers I had like butterscotch and chocolate chips. Some peanuts and walnuts. I used a large sized ice cream scoop and they turned out great. I added some extra baking time due to their size.
I made these with Tenderflake lard with butterscotch chips and they turned out delish!