The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
I love cookies.
And I REALLY love chocolate chip cookies.
But they are kind of like pizza – totally ubiquitous but hard to find a really stellar variety.
For years, I didn’t even attempt chocolate chip cookies, because I was disappointed every single time by flat crisp cookies with little chocolate chip mountains poking out of them or bready, dense cookies with no real flavor.
All I wanted was the best chocolate chip cookie recipe that would turn out a no-failure version every single time.
I wanted a crisp exterior with a perfectly-soft but not underdone interior, plenty of chocolate chips, and bonus points for looking pretty.
Apparently, that was a tall order.
Then I tried this recipe about seven years ago in Texas.
After a couple of false starts and adjustments to the flour levels, baking time, and temperature, they came out perfectly.
And I haven’t even tried another chocolate chip cookie recipe in the past five years.
This one is it for me.
I make these all the time and every single time, they’re absolutely perfect.
The only complaint I’ve ever gotten about them is that last year we took a big bowl of this cookie dough up to a family event and made them fresh and Bart’s grandmother said, “Well, how is my store-bought dessert supposed to compete with THESE?!”
And not only do they taste incredible, but I love how gorgeous they are.
I know that it doesn’t actually matter how they look as long as they taste good, but it gives me an extra little bit of happiness to take them out of the oven and have them look like the chocolate chip cookie of my dream.
Occasionally, I’ll sub out half the chocolate chips for mint chips instead, which is Bart’s favorite, or I’ll do half butterscotch chips and half chocolate chips.
One thing I don’t recommend, though, is skipping the shortening.
Shortening is not my favorite thing, and I never use it except in this recipe.
But right after we moved to Arizona, I made these cookies when some friends came over for lunch and I hadn’t yet bought new shortening, so I just used all butter instead.
It’d been a while since I’d made these cookies, and while they were fine, both Bart and I commented separately that they weren’t as good as we’d remembered. They were fine, but I couldn’t believe I’d been so enraptured with this recipe.
A few weeks later, I bought a tiny can of shortening at the grocery store and tried them again.
And this time, they were again, the best chocolate chip cookies ever.
The texture was perfect, the taste was divine, and I vowed to never go the all-butter route ever again.
So if you’re still on the quest for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, give this one a try and let me know how they turn out.
And maybe invite me over to try one for myself.
P.S. If you liked this Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, you might also love these cookies:
- Double chocolate M&M cookies(my husband’s OTHER favorite cookies)
- 4 ingredient no-bake peanut butter cookies
- Chocolate Chip S’mores Bars
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
The best chocolate chip cookie recipe. This turns out perfect chocolate chip cookies every time - you'll never have to try another recipe!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter softened
- 1/3 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I always use dark)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
- 1 3/4 cups purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- coarse salt for sprinkling
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375.
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In a stand mixer, beat butter and shortening together until combined (about a minute). Add sugars and beat another minute or two. Add vanilla and egg. Beat again.
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Mix in the chocolate chips.
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Add the flour, soda, and salt. Mix JUST until combined. It will look over-floured for a few seconds, but should come together fairly quickly.
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Scoop golf-ball size spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet, sprinkle each ball with a pinch of kosher or sea salt and bake for 9-11 minutes (mine are 11 minutes, every time, except when I've made them in a higher altitude like Utah, and there it's about 9 minutes). They should be light-colored and puffed when they come out of the oven, but dry-looking (not shiny or wet). Let cool on the pan for about 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
Recipe Notes
Since we've moved to Utah with a higher altitude, I use 2 Tablespoons LESS flour.
I wonder if these would turn out at high altitude…. anyone know?
OK, these ARE the best chocolate chip cookies ever! I’m not a fan of shortening – BUT – what a great texture it produces.
I gave most of them away so I wouldn’t eat them, and had two phone calls this morning asking for the recipe!
Might add toasted walnuts next time, just to gild the lily.
This is amazing! Thanks so much for your nice note!
I have a random question… Do you use a cookie scoop or spoon out a chunk of dough and roll it into a ball? I am on my CCC quest and am trying to figure out some ways I may be doing it differently from successful cookie bakers. I’m currently trying to decide of my using a scoop is making a negative difference. Thanks!
I use a cookie scoop!
What kind of shortening? Regular or butter flavored?
Just regular!
Thanks!!
I’m with you on the shortening! I don’t use it much, but I keep some around just for chocolate chip cookies and biscuits. There’s a lot of times when you can replace it with something else, but in some recipes there’s no substitute!
Have you seen the shortening that’s sold in sticks like butter? SO much easier to measure!
I have seen them but have never used them!
How many eggs?
I made these last week, with a couple of substitutions just because I was using what I had on hand. I knew it was risky, but they still came out delicious so I thought I would share! I used softened coconut oil instead of both the butter and shortening (dairy allergy in the house), and I also used vanilla coconut sugar as a substitute for both sugars. Tonight I’m going to try again but substitute a chia seed egg for the egg, just because my youngest has multiple food allergies and I’d love to share these with him – I’ll report back!
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
You were right! These are amazing. Made them with my granddaughter today and this is our new favorite chocolate chip cookie 🍪! Trying your pancake recipe next.
Yay! So glad to hear it.
These cookies are delicious! I think I may work with the sugar ratios and add more brown sugar to increase the chewy texture a bit. My only problem was that they got really brown almost burnt on the bottom and they were just done in the center. I need to adjust the temp vs time. Any bakers out there have suggestions?
These really are the best. I have made twice in the last week for my grandsons. They love them.
Made these 5 times and perfect every time. My son gave them two thumbs up and ate 6 right out of the oven. Want to take this cookie on vacation but bake them there to seve warm. Can I freeze the dough?
Yes! The dough freezes really well.
These were perfect! Next time I think I’ll use a little less chocolate chips but that’s just my personal preference. So happy I finally found a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Hands down the best ever! This my my new chocolate chip cookie recipe.
I see a few used coconut oil, we used half coconut oil and half butter for an amazing lumpy cookie. Because the oil can vary, (my son melted it all the way, and his cookies turned out flat) Use slightly softened and do a test cookie to see if they need like a bit more flour.
(My daughter first made the recipe, and hers had enough flour, with just softened coconut oil, and the exact flour that the recipe calls for, resulting in an amazing cookie.) I bought crisco, to try that next but accidentally got butter flavored. That detracts for sure, where yes each bight into chewiness has a small enticing crisp, but fake butter taste…. No!
So, for a slight bit more health, I would personally go with natural raw cane sugar and a shy tbs of raw strap molasses for the brown sugar measurement with half coconut oil half butter and a slight bit more flour to compensate for the molasses wetness, for a slightly healthier cookie, lumpy, chewy and soft.
And I would sometimes make it JUST like this recipe calls for, at Everyday-reading, using half PLAIN unflavored crisco, as well as butter (50/50) for an AMAZING chewy, lumpy, soft, crispy sensations in each bight, cookie!!!
Thank you!! This may have replaced my go – to, perfect cookie recipe!!!
For some reason it only let me rate 4 stars, but these are a 10 out of 10! I am borderline obsessed with chocolate chip cookies and a bit of a “snob” when it comes to which ones are the best. I must say, THIS RECIPE HERE will be my new go to…they are PERFECTION! I’ve made countless recipes over the years for my family, and my husband never really says much about them (I guess he’s so used to me making them), but when he tried these, he said “wow, that’s a dang good cookie!” May not seem like much but for him that was huge, lol! They’re perfectly crispy on the outside and gooey chewy in the middle. So so good!
I made these … didn’t want to use crisco so I used coconut oil. They turned out great. Also used a small scoop smaller than a golf ball. That made about 33 cookies. So good. Thanks!