17+ Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to use butter or Crisco for cookies? ›

While shortening can be used as a replacement, it lacks the same depth of flavor and deliciousness that butter provides. So if you're looking for a truly flavorful cookie, we recommend sticking with butter. Plus, butter is also much easier to work with than shortening!

Anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. The longer you chill the dough, the more flavor will develop. The flour will also absorb more of the moisture so the thicker and chewier the final texture will be.

Use my favorite tall cookie trick to reduce excess spreading. Roll your dough balls to be taller rather than wider. This doesn't necessarily mean using more dough per cookie– we'll simply shape the cookie dough ball to be nice and tall, with a firm solid bottom to ensure the cookie doesn't topple over as it bakes.

Shortening is a type of fat used in cooking and baking. It's typically made from hydrogenated vegetable oil and has a long history of use in American kitchens that dates back to the early 1900s. However, shortening has fallen out of favor in the past few decades because of its high trans fat content.

The science is simple: According to the flour authorities over at Bob's Red Mill, cornstarch can help “soften the rigid proteins of the flour, resulting in a light and chewy dessert.” “The cornstarch complements the flour in absorbing the liquids, but won't develop gluten structure like the flour will,” stresses ...

Butter is key for most cookies. Not only does it provide flavor, it's the main reason your cookies will spread. As the butter warms in the oven, the dough slackens and gradually spreads out over the baking sheet. It's important to mix your butter well to ensure it's evenly mixed throughout the dough.

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

Since flour is not heat-treated, any flour and baking mixes you buy could be contaminated with these bacteria. While heat kills the bacteria, eating raw cookie dough (and similar mixtures, like cake batter) poses risks of food poisoning.

Most cookie dough can be refrigerated, well-wrapped, for 3-5 days before baking. If you want to make it farther in advance, freeze the dough. You can either freeze the entire brick of dough or divide it into portions for quick baking.

Is it okay to put cookie dough on a hot baking sheet to bake? ›

The bottom line: Never reuse a sheet straight from the oven, as its high heat will cause the dough to spread and the cookies to fuse together.

They rise.

The baking soda then reacts to the acidic components present in brown sugar, creating gases that cause the cookie to rise.

Cookies. If you've ever had a tray of cookies morph into one huge mess in the oven, it's time to listen up. Cookies made with butter, especially high-sugar recipes, tend to be flatter and crispier than cookies made with shortening.

Cookies made with butter are usually crispier than chewy cookies made with shortening, but the flavor is richer with butter. So a one-to-one butter swap will work great if you need a shortening substitute for cookies. In cakes and breads, the substitution is rarely noticeable when using shortening vs. butter.

Nutrition. Some say butter is not the healthiest choice when cooking, but compared to shortening, it packs way more nutrition value. Harvard Public Health even states that fats are crucial to our health, and butter is more of a natural and heart-healthy ingredient overall.

Cookie fat #1: Room temperature butter

The most common fat called for in chocolate chip cookie recipes is room temperature butter, and for a good reason! It yielded the best results in terms of appearance, texture, and flavor.