1 Dozen Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookies are the hardest dessert to scale down to size. Between trying to halve eggs and butter that melts and spreads too much without exactly the right amount of flour to hold it together, it takes months of recipe testing to achieve a cookie that doesn’t taste like you monkeyed around with the ingredients. I used to have an old version of chocolate chip cookies on my site that fell into this category. They were good, not great, but good enough to dunk in milk. I just wasn’t satisfied. My dad requested a cookie that tastes like the ones you buy at the mall. He’s pleased as punch with these cookies. Just ask my mom, who’s made them twice a week ever since I sent the recipe to her.
If you ask me if you can make this recipe with all butter and no shortening, I’m going to ask you to slap your mama. Cookies need shortening. They crave it. They need it for crispness, chewiness and fluff.
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons shortening
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons flour
- ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
- ⅛ teaspoon instant espresso powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 375° and line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
- In a medium bowl, cream the butter, shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar together. Beat very well, about 45 seconds. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients (except chocolate chips) and add it in 2 batches to the creamed butter, beating just to combine.
- Stir in the chocolate chips. Make 12 dough balls (roll them in your hand), space them evenly on the cookie sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes.
Hmm weird I’ve never put shortening in cookies! I usually just follow the recipe on the bag which never calls for it but maybe this will make mine more tasty and have a better texture! I also love the idea of the size being scaled down, Jay will love these since he is a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies.
[Reply]
Shortening? In a cookie? Hmm…I’m not sure I’ve ever tried that.
Must go experiment now…
[Reply]
Looks like I need to start investing in shortening:-)
[Reply]
OH man. I love you. And your take on shortening.
[Reply]
I bet these are fabu ; )
[Reply]
I’ve never tried shortening before….just lots and lots of butter!
[Reply]
Love the espresso powder in the cookies. Looking forward to trying these – love soft chocolate chip cookies.
[Reply]
Christina you are too funny…No need to slap my momma on my end…our cookies ALWAYS contain butter or shortening! PERIOD! LOL
[Reply]
Whipped these up during my twins’ nap time today; delish! This may become my new go-to ccc recipe!
[Reply]
These cookies are exactly the way I like them!
[Reply]
Hi Christina! I made your beautiful lemon layer cake – gluten free! We loved it..still want to create a lighter version, but this was lovely, thank you. Here is the post:http://glutenfreedelightfullydelicious.com/?p=8220
[Reply]
I am surprised that people are shocked by the shortening … I thought shortening was a given for great cookies!
These sound wonderful! I love your scaled down recipes. 12 cookies is perfect for my husband and I.
[Reply]
You are so funny! Yay shortening! It is a big help in the cookie department.
When I saw your recipe was for a dozen I thought, “Well that’s scaled down to one because I can eat a dozen all by myself.” Did I just “say” that out loud?
Hope you have a great weekend, Christina!
[Reply]
Goodmorning Tina from Texas!
Over the years I have made cookies from butter and shortening both and do remember shortening being better suited for cookies. Sadly now that the kiddos moved on to college I have been lazy and bought the Pillsbury pull apart ones…lol I make about 2 each for hubby and I.
However this post inspires me to get back to making them homemade !!
Thanks for doing the math and research for us on this one: )
Lisa in Texas
[Reply]
I WANT THESE!!!! nom nom nom.
[Reply]
there aren’t a lot of goodies for which i’ll break out the shortening, but chocolate chip cookies are simply not the same without it. amen.
[Reply]
Wonderful! These are a perfect blend of chewy and crispy. I hadn’t realized how individual tastes vary though, because I proudly brought these to my sister and dad only to discover they prefer my regular recipe.
At least my personal quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie has ended, and let’s face it, since I’m single I’ll usually just be making them for myself anyway, so good thing it’s scaled down!
[Reply]
Great recipe – I need built in portion control!
[Reply]
i am obsessed with the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie so i will try these / i have an unopened can of Crisco / i also have lard / have you ever used lard in cookies ? i use it for pie crusts
Katherine
[Reply]
1 dozen, how cool..scaling down cookies is hard..i have tried with horrible results!! thanks for doing all the leg work..i have a small can of crisco in my pantry perfect for this..thanks
sweetlife
[Reply]
I like the addition of espresso powder!
[Reply]
Nothing beats a batch of choc chip cookies. I’m so tempted to make some NOW!
[Reply]
[...] I haven’t baked in over a week. I miss it so much. Then I clicked on auto-pilot and baked a dozen cookies, and ate four. BUT, I’m eating so much better the rest of the day. This was a slip, but not [...]
I JUST pulled these out of the oven. They look amazing. The only problem: they are too hot to eat immediately
Jenna
momofmanyhats.blogspot.com
[Reply]
[...] portions them down for two people. For my first two-person dessert, I decided on her recipe for 1 Dozen Chocolate Chip Cookies. She mentions that these cookies were made to taste like the cookies you buy at the mall. [...]
I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen! I only had 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and needed to make cookies quickly, so these were absolutely perfect. Also, my boyfriend loves chocolate chip cookies and he went crazy over these…a winner in my book. Thank you!
[Reply]
[...] Adapted from Tasty Kitchen, Recipe by Dessert For Two [...]
And just like that shortening finds it’s way into my pantry.
[Reply]
I don’t normally keep shortening on hand so I used 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, then a little more. I left out the coffee and added cinnamon…..I love love these small batches! Thank you for all your hard work!
[Reply]
mert Reply:
March 11th, 2012 at 4:12 am
Great suggestion! I tried it last night and they were great.
[Reply]
Everyone is so shocked to see a cookie recipe that calls for shortening!! My brother and I grew up on the BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies that were made by our mom with….shortening. No butter. Just shortening. Even into our adult lives, these cookies are always requested and I would never make them any other way!! (no butter for me!)
[Reply]
I made these last night for a coworker – I have a great Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe but I didn’t want to make more than a dozen and I knew these would be perfect! My standard recipe calls for both shortening and butter, so that was not unusual to me at all! Loved the addition of a bit of espresso powder. They turned out delicious – Hated to give any away!
[Reply]
They’re good cookies! The only reason I gave them 4 stars was because it made an awful lot of mess for such few cookies, but then again I guess I knew what I was getting into!
The espresso powder is good in them – if you want to know another recipe to use it in – look up “black magic cake”. My wife makes it all the time and it is one of the most ridiculously rich chocolate cakes ever.
[Reply]
I don’t think I’ve ever bought shortening! But I can sure as heck go out and get some!
[Reply]
I made these cookies twice and used 1/8 tsp of a vanilla Starbucks via packet instead of vanilla and espresso powder! Thanks for the great recipe!
[Reply]
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. It has been sweetly approved by Surreal Confections and bragged about on the website. As well as being on the Recipes Approved Pin board on Pinterest.
You can read the article here – http://www.surrealconfections.com/2012/07/cake-for-two.html
[Reply]
[...] a good thing. Check out more of Christina’s great recipes: Hummingbird Cupcakes 1 dozen chocolate chip cookies German Chocolate Cupcakes Mini Mixed-Berry Sour Cream [...]
These turned out so great – minimal dishes too, did not need to use the electric mixer and used two small mixing bowls. Thanks for sharing!
[Reply]
Came across the site when I was browsing for a small batch of cookies recipe…made them last night for my husband and we loved them! Then as an afterthought made them again this morning to go with a meal for a sick friend and now ended up with a third batch in the oven for my husband again (he claims it’s for the kids lol!)
[Reply]
Omg! Best cookies EVAR! New favorite recipe!,,
[Reply]
Turned these into mint chocolate-chocolate chip cookies. Subbed 3T of flour for 3T of cocoa powder, added 3/4t of mint extract and an additional 1/4t of vanilla. Soooo awesome!!! The hubby loved them. We love the original recipe just as much!
[Reply]
I found a wonderful recipe for ccc that you MELT the butter instead of letting it soften, which I LOVE since when I’m in the mood for cookies, I want them NOW. Do you think I could do that with this recipe? I know in the past when I’ve tried to hurry the softening of butter in the microwave (I know a big no-no), the cookies turned out very flat & were near impossible to get off the cookie sheet.
[Reply]
Christina Reply:
December 20th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Hi there! Yeah, generally melted butter creates cookies that spread & darken too quickly, but you might be ok because of the shortening. I’m not sure, never tried it! If you do, let me know how it works
[Reply]
I used cream cheese instead of shortening. YUM! I nuked the butter on low, and kept a good eye. They did spread a bit, but I think it was because I used too much cream cheese. Thanks to my sil-pat it was ok though. All I can say is YUM!! Thanks 4 the recipe and I’m happy I found this site
[Reply]
I tried this recipe..came out well..Thanks for posting it!
[Reply]
This recipe is awesome! I used butter in place of the shortening and left out the expresso. I am so glad I found this website. Thank you.
[Reply]
I’m an occupational therapist at a school for kids with autism, and I’m always looking for small batch recipes for working on cooking skills. These cookies turned out great, even in our tiny kitchen and toaster-style ovens! Thanks!
[Reply]
I made a batch of these for company last weekend, using butter and no espresso. We all enjoyed them. A great recipe for single gals!
[Reply]
Christina Reply:
February 12th, 2013 at 9:55 pm
Thanks for writing in, Diana!
[Reply]