Half Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies is a recipe I’ve used for many years. It’s adapted from an old recipe in Cuisine at Home Magazine, which I used to enjoy for all the full color photos. I have a big binder full of old issues. As for the cookies, they are crinkly, scraggly, dense and soft. Part of the reason for the great texture is the recipe calls for half butter and half shortening.
Easy Half Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (210 grams)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed (100 grams)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened (80 grams)
1/3 cup vegetable shortening (65 grams)
1 large egg (50 grams)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (or dark or milk)
1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; Set aside.
Using high speed of an electric mixer, beat both sugars, butter and shortening until creamy. Reduce speed to low and mix in egg and vanilla – do not overbeat after adding the egg.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until flour is incorporated. Add chocolate chips and nuts (if using)
Drop cookies by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden around edges and set. Transfer to a rack to cool.
Makes 20 (or so) cookies
Anna
Hi Chelsea,
Thanks for the comment. I’m always happy to hear that people are using the small and half batch recipes.
CookingChelsea
Great Recipe!!! had just enough butter and this worked out perfectly!!
Anna
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for the comment! I love it when people have good luck with a recipe.
Amanda
I loved these cookies and i had such a great time making them !!! My mom and i made them and we had such a fun time enjoying ourself and…. They were so delicious i felt like i was in Heaven already . Mum.. Mum….Mumm …. Delicious!
Anna
Hello Judy,
Congratulations on your retirement. Also, good for you for trying your hand at some contests. It can be very frustrating not to win, but it makes you feel more victorious when you do, so keep at it. Also, join Cooking Contest Central because all of the contests are listed there….and there are plenty.
I use a program called Movable Type for my blog. While I am sure they are doing their best to make it more user friendly, it is more complex than a lot of other blog software. I recommend getting started on blogger. Just sign on to http://www.blogger.com and start reading how to do it.
Judy
Hi Anna — I’ve been enjoying reading your blog for a while now. I am just retired and wanting to spend more time on my hobby — cooking and baking. Have been entering contests — no wins yet. Want to start a blog of my own as well as continue to read all the good ones, including yours. It’s a little confusing with the blogs. So many ads. Can you tell me if you purchased software or took one of the free deals? Blogger looks good (Google). Thanks for your info.
PS — We have something in common — I also give away most of what I bake. I have a loyal fan base here in my neighborhood.
valchemist
hi anna!
I made these cookies yesterday and I love them. I didn’t use the nuts, but I am sure that doesn’t surprise you. the only other change I made from what you did was to us unbleached flour (that’s just what I happened to have in my flour jar at the time). Mine came out with a totally different texture from what you described. mine were lightly crisp outside and a bit chewy inside. they weren’t at all dense inside though. not dense, not soft. and there was a crispness to the edges that stayed even after storage. how totally different is that?! but in my case that is good, since that is a texture I really like in ccc’s.
thanks for the info on the bakeoff, too. this year they say they will notify on or around september 30th. I wonder if they might go earlier?? was that sept 30th the date they had given you two years ago? or maybe you don’t recall.
anyway, thanks for this recipe! I recommend them!
Debra
These look soooo yummy!!!
Joe
Me too Anna – I frequently (!) buy the 5 pound bag from Sam’s of the Ghirardelli.
Anna
Ghirardelli 60% chips are the only bittersweet chips I can find around here. They have a good, strong and very distinct bittersweet taste so I only use bittersweet chips when I want that specific type of flavor. For other recipes, I prefer Hershey Dark chips and Nestle Semi-Sweet chips. When I feel like spending a little more money, I buy Callebaut chips — which are very smooth and velvety. So really, it depends on the recipe. But if I mention “bittersweet” as opposed to dark or semi-sweet, then that means I used Ghirardelli. It’s definitely my favorite bittersweet chocolate that comes in chip form.
Kelli
I was wondering, do you have a favorite bittersweet chip that you use?
Jaay
All I have to say is..when is it not a chocolate chip cookie kind of day? Never for me! haha
Anna
Hi Kelly,
I am going to email you the answer to this comment as well. The day was either September 13 or 14 of 2005. It was around 6:00 and I was giving Fuzz a bath.
Anna
Joe, maybe you could switch to a hotel with a microwave. You could do some “Culinary in the Hotel Microwave” posts.
Joe
Oh sure… post these when the movers are here packing up all my cookie making supplies! We’re thinking about bringing our toaster oven with us for the hotel, maybe we’ll have to do some hotel-chocolate chip cookies when we get out there!
Anna
AK and Fuzzy had a good time today pretending to be meerkats….chocolate chip cookie eating meerkats.
Debbi, I have cookie ESP.
Kelli, I think dense best describes these. They were really really soft and dense but not cakey.
kelly
Anna, when you entered the last pillsbury bakeoff, about what time did they contact you as a finalist?
Kelli
I’ve been wanting to try a new chocolate chip recipe lately and these look like they’re calling my name. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Debbi
You must have just KNOWN that I had exactly 1/3 C. shortening left! Ya!
Rachel H.
Heeeheee! AK was telling me about these and how goooooooooood they were. She said,”they melted when I ate them!” Fun! 🙂