Everyone has this recipe—it’s right on the package of Nestle Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips—but I’m often told my chocolate chip cookies are something extra special. This winter, we hosted students from France and Japan (not at the same time), and it only took one warm, gooey bite to make them disciples of the chocolate chip cookie cult. Antoine C., Antoine G., and Kana loved these so much that they requested the recipe, meaning this silly little cookie recipe is my first to go global.
My secret to fabulous cookies is to turn on the mixer and cream, cream, and cream again. I often turn on my beloved KitchenAid mixer to cream the shortening and sugars, then let it go while I do other stuff. Like a load of laundry. It doesn’t seem that you can overdo the creaming to make light, fluffy cookies. The other trick is not to over-bake. Remove from oven when lightly browned on edges. And of course, you have to put love in your cookies. Don’t forget the love. That’s the secret ingredient.
Makes 2 dozen cookies (I make them big)
1 cup shortening (do NOT substitute butter in this recipe)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed (not light brown sugar!)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups (or 12-ounce bag) of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips or Nestle Chocolate Chunks*
Preheat oven to 375° Fahrenheit. In a large mixer bowl, cream shortening with paddle attachment on electric mixer. Slowly add dark brown sugar, then granulated sugar, and cream ingredients until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and cream ingredients. Add vanilla and cream ingredients again.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt and combine with a spoon. Slowly add this flour mixture to the creamed shortening and sugar until all ingredients are combined. Remove bowl from mixer, and stir in chocolate chips by hand.
Drop cookie dough onto baking sheet with a small spoon. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes before removing cookies from the baking sheet. Continue cooling on racks. Store cookies in an airtight container.
They are a favorite at work – enough said.
Love a traditional chocolate chip cookie.Thanks for the creaming tip. Are these soft and gooey? What’s the secret to consistently soft chocolate chip cookies? Does the recipe need to be adjusted if I want to add nuts? Loving your blog!
Stacy, these are soft and gooey, cause that’s how we like ’em. :o) I’d say the secret is to pull them out of the oven when they are JUST golden brown on the edges, let cool for 10 minutes, and then get them in an airtight container right away to keep them soft. And I use shortening with this recipe always. Butter makes them too crisp. I think people tend to over-bake cookies as a rule, so try watching the cooking time and see if that gets you the desired results!
Ditto what Tom said. Can’t wait to try these.
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