The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ everybody and their grandmother thinks they make the best chocolate chip cookies ~ and it gets a little old after a while. With nuts, without nuts, thick, thin, chewy, crispy, blah blah blah… but this buttery shortbread based chocolate chip cookie recipe is truly the best ~ try it and see!
Shortbread is probably the ORIGINAL cookie, it goes way back, and the formula is a deliciously primitive combination of butter, sugar, and flour. Between SHORTBREAD and my FLOURLESS COOKIES, I hardly ever make cookies with eggs anymore. I prefer the texture without, and as an added bonus you can eat the dough, hooray!
The buttery dough is dreamy to work with, it rolls out easily and reforms over and over again so you can use every last bit. I like to roll it out to about 1/3 to 1/2 inch and cut chunky 3 inch rounds. That way you end up with a serious cookie. Cut them smaller if you like, but the heft of these cookies is part of their appeal. One of these bad boys is plenty.
There is something festive about these cookies in spite of their rustic appearance, maybe it’s because of their Old World roots. They are simple, yes, but decadently rich and buttery. During the holiday season we have an endless assembly line of these cookies going in the kitchen at all times. They’re sturdy enough for gift giving, and both the dough and the baked cookies freeze well.
Reader Rave ~
“I have a batch of these in the oven now!! Since finding your recipe a couple months back, I’ve made these 4 times. My husband claims to dislike shortbread but this is the recipe he always requests now :) Thank you for sharing it!!” ~ Limeriot
These are simply the best chocolate chip cookies ~ it's an easy chocolate chip cookie recipe with the melt in your mouth texture of shortbread!
Ingredients
- 2 sticks, 1 cup, unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- set oven to 350F
- Cream the butter and the sugar together. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, a little at a time, until the dough comes together. Fold in the chips just before it all comes into one mass.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured board and bring it all together with your hands. Form it into a plump disk and then roll it out, flouring your rolling pin as necessary, to about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut cookies with a 3" cookie cutter, pressing down firmly to cut through the chocolate chips. Reform the dough as needed to use it all up.
- Arrange the cookies on a cookie sheet and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the whole tray for at least an hour.
- Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, give or take, depending on their size. You want them to be every so slightly golden just around the edges, and be slightly firm to the touch. They are forgiving...if you bake them more they will b more crunchy, if you bake them for less time they will be soft and buttery.
- Let them cool for a few minutes on the tray and then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
Make these chocolate chip cookies your own ~
- Try half whole wheat flour for a nutty flavor and nutrition boost.
- Replace the chocolate chips with chopped walnuts or pecans.
Thanks for pinning The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!
30 Comments
Sandra McCollum
August 3, 2017 at 9:16 amI can’t wait to try these – the chocolate chips are just beautiful in the shortbread! xo San
Karly
August 1, 2017 at 7:58 pmLOVE a good shortbread cookie! These look absolutely incredible. Thanks for sharing this magic!
Linda
July 26, 2016 at 11:11 pmCan you put pecan chips in them?
Sue
July 27, 2016 at 6:13 amSure, that would be delicious!
Jan
June 14, 2015 at 8:57 amHave you ever tried these with glutenfree flour? Possily a sugar substitute for diabetics?
Sue
June 14, 2015 at 9:00 amI haven’t Jan, but I think it’s worth a try if you have a favorite gf flour blend. I’m not familiar with sugar substitutes so I can’t weigh in on that either, I’m afraid. if you do try it, I’d love for you to let us know how it turns out!
Louise
February 16, 2015 at 8:18 amLoved the coffee chocolate chip cookies and now want to make these shortbread cookies. Looks like the recipe is almost the same – the shortbread has 1/4 cup more flour. Any reason I could not do the shortbread as “slice and bake” also when I am short on time and don’t want to use a cutter? Looking forward to trying this recipe also. thanks!
Sue
February 16, 2015 at 8:55 amNo you can go ahead and slice and bake, the only thing is that the chips will make it difficult to get a completely smooth cut, but I make them that way all the time. enjoy!
LimeRIot
January 17, 2015 at 5:12 pmI have a batch of these in the oven now!! Since finding your recipe a couple months back, I’ve made these 4 times. My husband claims to dislike shortbread but this is the recipe he always requests now :). Thank you for sharing it!!
Sue
January 17, 2015 at 5:14 pmYou’re most welcome, thanks so much for the feedback!
JenniferK
January 2, 2015 at 2:15 pmJust made a batch of these using mini semi sweet chips, and they are *fabulous*! Everyone is raving for more. Thank you for a great recipe!
Sue
January 2, 2015 at 3:05 pmGreat Jennifer, I’m always so happy to get positive feedback, especially when I’ve gone out on a limb and labeled something THE BEST :) The mini chips are a nice idea, too!
SallyBR
October 17, 2014 at 5:51 amJust made them last night, and baked this morning – very nice! I think the students will love them, we are having lab meeting in a few minutes and these should brighten up the Friday ;-)
I shall blog about them in a couple of months (too much stuff waiting to be published… ;-) Of course will give you full credit!
Sue
October 17, 2014 at 8:03 amGreat — I can’t wait to read it :)
SallyBR
October 17, 2014 at 10:23 am:-)
Penny
October 15, 2014 at 5:04 amMy best chocolate chip cookies have browned butter in them, but I love shortbread so I will be giving these a try Sue.
Sue
October 15, 2014 at 6:19 amLOVE browned butter :)
Tricia @ Saving room for dessert
October 14, 2014 at 7:26 amHefty cookies – yes please! They are beautiful and I can almost taste them from drooling over the photos. Love milk chocolate chips :)
Laura+(Tutti+Dolci)
October 13, 2014 at 7:27 pmMmm, yes please – love the milk chocolate chips!
Velva
October 13, 2014 at 6:06 pmOMG! Your chocolate chip cookies look perfect. I believe they would taste perfect too :-)
Very nice!!!
Velva
Liz+@+Floating+Kitchen
October 13, 2014 at 1:30 pmOnly 5 ingredients! I’m sold!!! I have been making the same chocolate chip cookie recipe for years, but I think it’s about time I try out a new method! Thanks for sharing these!
Susan
October 13, 2014 at 8:54 amI would be willing to depart from my favorite (and best – LOL) chocolate chip cookie recipe to try these, since I’m a devoted shortbread fan. They look beautiful, Sue!
Monique
October 13, 2014 at 6:14 amThis may just be my sister-in-laws recipe..I will double check..We have been loving them for years too..
There really are so many great chocolate chip cookie recipes and this is surely one of them..Your pics make a believer out of me:)
Wild Hearts + Green Tea
October 13, 2014 at 4:11 amI’m not a huge choc-chip gal (i accept the odd glances my way) but this truly looks delish!
Julie
October 12, 2014 at 11:51 amThese sound delicious! How many cookies did you get with a batch?
Sue
October 12, 2014 at 12:40 pmAbout a dozen really big ones, and more if you cut them smaller….
cheri
October 12, 2014 at 10:54 amHi Sue, I’m always on a quest for the best chocolate chip cookies, love that this recipe does not use eggs. Pinned!
SallyBR
October 12, 2014 at 9:37 amWOW! I am not easily tempted by yet another “best” – :-)
but these are indeed totally different – I intent to give this recipe a try soon and share the production with my department – I also liked that you used milk chocolate chips, another departure from the usual. I must stay that although bittersweet chocolate gets all the praise, there’s something about the sweetness of a milk chocolate that makes me very very happy and cozy inside
;-)
Sue
October 12, 2014 at 10:13 amWell, I am a bittersweet girl, through and through, but I thought I’d change it up for once. These are great with any kind of chip, even white!
SallyBR
October 14, 2014 at 10:48 amOh, white chips… indeed…. or a mixture of white and dark, or butterscotch…
sky is the limit!