Most Requested Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
Ingredients
- ½ cup cool unsalted butter
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon ( just a couple of good shakes)
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 T pure vanilla extract
- 1 T molasses
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ T salt
- 2-2½ cups chocolate chips (I like to use a combination of milk, semisweet and dark chocolate chips)
- ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Use convection if you have it. If not, no big deal, just cook one tray at a time.
- Line 2 cookie trays or sheet pans with parchment.
- Add the butter and shortening to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat one med-high until it's starting to get fluffy and there are no more lumps. If you don't have a stand mixer just use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer.
- Add the sugars to the butter mixture and beat on med-high for 5 or 6 minutes until it's all nice and fluffy, scraping the edges of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Mix the cinnamon, eggs, vanilla, and molasses into the butter-sugar mixture until it just starts to combine. Don't overmix once the eggs have been added.
- Add the chocolate and nuts if you're using them and mix slowly until it's just combined.
- Use an ice cream scoop or LARGE cookie scoop to make dough balls and place on the tray. Try not to pack your scoop too tightly and leave plenty of space — about 2" — between the dough balls. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until they look set, but a little doughy on the tops.
- Variations:M&M Cookies: Use 1 cup of semisweet chips and stir 1 cup M&Ms into the dough. After you place the dough balls on the tray, press additional M&Ms into their tops — 8 or 10 per cookie. Chocolate Cookies: Skip the cinnamon and add about 1/3 cup of cocoa powder with the flour. Use chocolate, white chocolate or peanut butter chips, or Heath bits. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: Add about 3/4 cup old fashioned oats with the flour.
These cookies are so delicious! Definitely my favorite sweet. This recipe is pretty versatile, too. By making a few minor changes you can create a completely different flavor profile. I think it is fun to add M&Ms in the colors of my kids’ sports teams for after game treats. Wrap them up individually in clear bags, with a matching ribbon and you will be the favorite team Mom!
So, everyone has a preferred way they want their cookies – crispy, chewy, cakey… In our house there is some definite disagreement on the perfect cookie. I like thick, chewy, and underdone. The Professor prefers thin and a little crispy. Bleh. Occasionally, when I’m feeling benevolent, I smoosh some of the cookies on the tray before baking so he can have some flat ones.
Who doesn’t love a fresh baked chocolate cookie?
You can have them at anytime with this pro tip:
After you make the dough balls and place them on the tray, stick the tray in the freezer for a couple of hours. When the dough is frozen, remove the balls from the tray into a freezer bag and store until you have a craving. You’ll want to add a few minutes to the cooking time, or let the dough sit out for a while to come up to room temperature.
You’re welcome!
