Chocolate chip cookies with shortening are soft and chewy, and easy to make in 20 minutes with no chilling needed. Use only 6 pantry ingredients including a healthier shortening to make these fat chocolate chip cookies, perfect for an afternoon snack.
These chocolate chip cookies with shortening are chewy, fat and delicious enough to cover any cookie craving. They even have enough protein and fiber to make them a useful afternoon snack!
Despite the declaration that shortening is used, the ingredients are on the nourishing side, including a healthier shortening made of nutrition-rich red palm oil and coconut oil.
Like my more traditional vegan chocolate chip cookies and my oat flour chocolate chip cookies , these cookies pair perfectly with a glass of cold milk. And this cookie batter with shortening requires no chilling so you can have cookies on the table in 20 minutes!
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Why You'll Love This Cookie
Makes a Fat Chewy Cookie. These cookies are similar to Levain Bakery cookies, fat and full of chocolate chips. They also have 2 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber - not bad for a cookie!
Nourishing. Shortenings made of red palm oil are healthier with studies showing it improves oxidative stress and is rich in healthy fats and vitamin A, making it a healthier choice over main stream shortenings and even butter.
Make the Batter Ahead & Freeze. Store scooped balls of batter in the freezer and make a single cookie at will.
Ingredients
Shortening or butter - A natural shortening that is nutrient-rich contains a mix of red palm oil from fruit and coconut oil rich in health MCTs. What this shortening doesn't have is the highly processed and nutrient-devoid palm kernel and canola or corn oils found in main-stream shortening. Spectrum and Nutiva are great brands for healthy shortenings. Or use butter.
Sugar. Use a combination of brown and white sugar.
Flour. All purpose or gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour works perfectly, creating a tender crumb.
Applesauce. Unsweetened applesauce works instead of eggs because it has pectin which binds just like eggs do.
Flavors. Vanilla extract and salt. You'll want to use vanilla because shortening provides a neutral flavor. Salt too is necessary to enhance flavors.
Leaveners. Baking soda and baking powder
Chocolate chips. I use mini chips because they are fun, but any size works.
See the recipe card at the bottom for full information on ingredients and quantities.
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Steps to Make
For more detail, visit the complete recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.
Step 1: Melt the shortening or butter in the microwave. Add it to a large mixing bowl, with sugars and use a spoon or hand mixer to cream together.
Step 2: Add in the applesauce or aquafaba, and other liquid ingredients.
Step 3: Mix and sift in the dry ingredients. Stir and fold in the chocolate chips.
Step 4: Spoon or scoop about 3 tablespoon of batter to make a large cookie, and I bake about 4 at a time on a parchment lined quarter cookie sheet.
Step 5: Under-bake cookies. Bake them about 10 minutes, pulling them out while they are still wiggly on top. The under-baking helps influence the chewy texture. The cookies will be barely browned around the edge, and look almost but not quite raw on top.
Step 6: Just out of the oven, sprinkle a few chips on top of the hot cookies so the chips melt. Then let the cookies sit in the pan for a 20 minute rest. They are still baking.
Make Ahead
To make ahead, scoop the dough, line it on a pan, and freeze them about 30 minutes. Then store the frozen scoops in a sealed container or freezer bag. Freeze them away for up to three months. When you are ready to bake any number of cookies - even just one! - let them thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes and then back according to my baking instructions.
Recipe Tips
1: Carefully measure flour. Measure your flour very carefully using the spoon and level method. Fluff the flour with a fork in the flour bag. Then spoon the flour into measuring cups, and use a knife to level off the top.
2: Room-temperature. Make sure your shortening is at room temperature. It should be soft and able to be creamed with sugar easily.
3: Cream sugar thoroughly. Be sure the sugar has been creamed completely into the shortening.
Trouble Shooting
If your cookies didn't rise: It means they spread too much. Be sure your ingredients such as applesauce are at room temperature. Also make sure baking soda and baking powder are not expired.
If your cookies didn't spread: The the dough or ingredients were too cold, or the butter and sugar mixture wasn't creamed completely.
How to Store
Put left over these chocolate chip cookies in an air-tight container for 3-4 days and keep them on the counter. After that, refrigerate for two weeks. Add a single slice of white bread to keep them soft once you've refrigerated them. You can also freeze dough balls as I described above under "make ahead."
FAQS
Shortening, especially red palm oil shortening, makes cookies more moist and tender to bite. The flavor, however, is neutral so you can influence it with add-ins such as chocolate chips or cinnamon or vanilla.
Cookies made with shortening tend to be softer and chewy because a higher melting point means cookies tend to rise higher than those made with butter or oil.
Yes, but it is not a 1:1 replacement. Shortening is all fat, with no water, contrary to butter which has a percentage of water. So, to replace shortening in this recipe with butter, use ⅔ cup butter, unsalted.
Most commercial shortenings survive well unopened at room temperature for 8 months. After opening, store them at room temperature for 3 months. Of course, read the label of your particular brand for more specific instructions.
Other Healthy Cookies
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📖 Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Shortening
Equipment
- Measuring cups & spoons
- mixing bowl, hand mixer
- spoon, spatula
- baking sheet, parchment paper
Ingredients
- ½ cup shortening ( Use Nutiva or Spectrum shortening)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup cane sugar
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoon applesauce, unsweetened
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour (Or a baking gluten free flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
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Instructions
Prep
- Line a quarter cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Make sure all wet ingredients are at room temperature.
Make Cookies
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.1 ½ cups all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon salt
- In a large mixing bowl, add shortening and both sugars and mix with a hand mixer until creamed together.½ cup shortening, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup cane sugar
- Add in the applesauce and vanilla. Blend again.4 tablespoon applesauce, unsweetened, 2 tsps vanilla extract
- Add flour mixture in two parts and mix the batter until all are combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips. You can chill for an hour if you want your cookies exceptionally fat but these cookies don't need chilling if you don't have time.1 cup chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Use a medium cookie scoop OR drop 3 tablespoon of dough per cookie on to the cookie sheet. I fit about 4 cookies on my quarter sheet. Bake for 12 minutes.
- Repeat until all batter is baked.
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for about 10 minutes.
Store cookies
- Store them sealed in a container at room temperature for 4 days, and then refrigerate for 2 weeks. They are also easy to freeze for several months either as dough or baked cookies.
V says
Hello
Could I use oil instead of butter ?
Dee Dine says
Hi V, No oil would change the texture negatively. Vegan butter or organic shortening are best here!