Mom’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
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Looking for the perfect old fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe? You’ve come to the right place! Our family has been making this recipe for decades so it’s tried-and-true and does not disappoint.
Mom’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Have you made countless chocolate chip cookies and never found the perfect one? I’m here to tell you, this is it!
This is my mom’s chocolate chip cookie recipe and it’s by far the best one I’ve ever found. The cookies are just the right amount of chewy and chocolate chippy goodness!
We’ve been making this secret recipe for several decades now and it’s always a family favorite when I decide to make them. We like making the cookies really large and putting away about half of them to save some for later.
Ingredients in Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies
What you need:
- Butter. Softened not melted. If you need this to be dairy free, you can use all shortening instead.
- Shortening. I use this brand. Yes, both shortening and butter are required in this recipe and I would not recommend subbing with all butter. You will end up with a crispy, flat cookie.
- Sugar. This is regular white sugar. I use plain cane sugar that I buy in bulk.
- Brown Sugar. Again, having both kinds of sugar will help balance the cookies, doing all of one kind will give it the wrong flavor.
- Vanilla. I make my own Homemade Vanilla Extract.
- Eggs.
- Flour. Regular all purpose flour is fine. You can also use Gluten Free All Purpose Flour.
- Baking soda.
- Salt.
- Chocolate Chips. Make sure you use dairy free if you are making a dairy free version. I get them from Costco. I usually have semi-sweet chocolate chips on hand but if you want to use milk chocolate chips or even a combo of any kind with dark chocolate chips, that’s ok too.
FAQs About Chocolate Chip Cookies
What makes a cookie chewy or crispy?
It depends on the ingredients and your baking time. Carefully watching a baking cookie is the key to getting the perfect amount of chewiness. Ingredients like shortening instead of all butter help keep it soft as well.
How do you keep chewy cookies soft?
Store chewy cookies on the counter instead of in the refrigerator or freezer to protect their texture.
How to Store Cookies for Later
If you want to make a big batch of these cookies and you don’t plan on eating them all right away, here’s how to properly store them.
If you plan on eating them in the next couple of days, place them in an airtight container or bag on the countertop until they are eaten up.
If you aren’t going to get to them for a while, place the baked cookies in a freezer bag or container and freeze. Bring them to room temperature before enjoying.
If you want to keep the same texture but can’t eat all the cookies right away, you can freeze the dough for later. Here’s how to do it!
Instructions for Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
Mix together the sugars, butter, and shortening in a large bowl.
Stir in the eggs and the vanilla.
Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. If you prefer, you can do all of this mixing in an electric mixer or a hand mixer. This dough is rather heavy so that is a good option if you have a hard time mixing.
Add in the chocolate chips and take a minute to admire the cookie dough. (or if you are like me have a taste test)
Drop the dough onto a greased or parchment paper lined baking sheet. I like to use the muffin scoop to make a large cookie.
Bake at 350F for 12 minutes or until slightly browned on the tops. Mmmm chocolate chip cookie perfection:)
Need to print this chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe for your Recipe Binder? Grab it below!
Mom’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened not melted
- 1/2 cup palm shortening regular shortening will work but that's what I use
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 package chocolate chips
Instructions
-
Mix together the sugars, butter, shortening.
-
Mix in the eggs and the vanilla.
-
Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
-
Add in the chocolate chips and take a minute to admire the cookie dough. (or if you are like me have a taste test)
-
Drop the dough onto a greased cookie sheet. I like to use the muffin scooper to make them so they are bigger.
-
Bake at 350F for 12 minutes or until slightly browned on the tops.
More Cookie Recipes
- Chocolate Brownie Cookies
- Soft Sugar Cookies
- Zucchini Cookie Recipe
- Oatmeal Lace Cookies Recipe
- Easy Pumpkin Cookies
- Quick & Easy Chocolate Cookies
- Old Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies
- Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe can be found in an easy-to-make and store mix in my book Little House Living: The Make Your Own Guide to a Frugal, Simple, and Self-Sufficient Life along with over 130 other recipes.
Have you made this Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe yet? How did you like it?
This Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe was originally posted on Little House Living in October 2010. It has been updated as of November 2022.
I have been using this exact recipe for 32 years and it is the best! I recently read that bread flour makes a chewier cookie and it stays softer. I haven't tried it yet but I plan to.
Yum,yum Sweet girl you have done it once again! you know making my mouth water!
Have a nice weekend.
Bonnie
I don’t buy shortening, I’ve always used butter instead. Since there is already butter, can I use more, or does it have to be shortening and butter?
I don’t use shortening either so I just double the butter in this recipe and it’s just fine:)
Thanks. They look delicious; I’ll have to give them a try.
I have been searching for a great chocolate chip cookie recipe, so when I saw yours I gave it a try. My dough really spread and my cookies ended up thin and crispy. Any suggestions for what I did? Your pictures looks so much better than mine turned out.
Did you use all butter or half butter half shortening? Either way you want to make sure that the butter is just softened, not melted.
I used all butter, and I melted it. I thought that was what your recipe said, maybe I misread it. I will have to try again another day, thanks! : )
I just checked and yes, the picture looks a little deceiving, I’ll have to update that! They’ll still taste totally fine just be a little more flattened, but if you just soften the butter you can get the nice plump cookies like in my picture:)
Nice blog! Found your link at Coffee, Tea, Books and Me.
When we married 39 years ago, the only thing I knew how to cook was bacon and Kraft Spaghetti mix. That’s it. I didn’t even know how long to boil an egg. But I learned and I learned quickly.
Raising two boys, I baked hundreds of dozens of cookies and Chocolate Chip was one of their favorites. My recipe called for shortening, but I always used vegetable oil (now I use canola instead of soybean). Butter gives a wonderful flavor, but it does tend to spread out a little and my husband has to watch his saturated fat content. We use only butter for spreading on toast and potatoes and things, so I just save when I can.
Your cookies look wonderful.
Can this cookie dough be frozen?
Yes it can! In fact I made a post on it here: https://www.littlehouseliving.com/homemade-ready-to-bake-cookie-dough.html
I made these and they were fantastic. Big hit with the kids. Thanks so much!
Would love the gluten free recipe!!!
You can find it here: https://www.littlehouseliving.com/gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
I tried making those with softened butter but mine also flattened… Not sure what went wrong
These will always flatten more when made with butter instead of shortening but if you want them to stay puffy and still use a natural product you could always make them with coconut oil or palm shortening.
Oh wow….these cookies taste AMAZING! Thanks for posting the recipe! I ended up using a combination of coconut sugar and honey (because that’s what I had on hand) and they turned out nice. Mine were a bit fluffy/cake-like due to the honey but they had a great flavor. I didn’t have a semi-solid shortening so I subbed liquid oil and it came out fine.
Great substitution!
I absolutely loved mom’s old fashioned chocolate chip cookie recipe takes me back in the day when I was a little girl. Make a recipe with my Grandma she was totally amazing. Just like the Mom’s old fashioned chocolate chip cookie!. 😋
What about adjustments for higher elevation? More liquid? I’m just about at 1400 ft., in a mountain valley.
I don’t think you will need to make an adjustment for that altitude.
I have a LO, that is on a protocol and some things that need to be changed in a recipe. In this recipe, I switched out to coconut oil, instead of shortening. Did a couple other little tweaks, like cane sugar, mixed dark brown and light brown sugar ..final product…Delicious!!
I’m glad it worked for you!
I made the recipe with raw sugar and they tasted ok, but after 10 minutes out of the oven they were hard and not soft and did not look like the picture at all! do I also use light brown sugar or dark?
Did you change any of the other ingredients? I usually use light brown sugar because that’s the one most commonly found. Did you use shortening?