This back-of-the-bag Pillsbury Double Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is for classic chocolate chip cookies. The "double" in the title comes from two kinds of chips -- a mix of both milk chocolate and dark. The dough itself is vanilla-based and conveniently uses only brown sugar and no white. It's a simple brand name recipe for cookies that bake up soft and chewy similar to the ones from packaged dough.
Why The Pillsbury Recipe is Worth Making
This recipe comes from the back of a Pillsbury flour bag, which means it's been tested to work consistently in a wide range of kitchens. I made it as written first, then paid attention to how it mixed, spread, and baked, since those are the things that matter most with simple chocolate chip cookies. What stood out was how familiar the results were. The cookies were kind of cookies are basic (in a great way) and both crispy and chewy.
Brown Sugar, Flour and Texture
This recipe uses brown sugar only, which almost guarantees soft, chewy cookies. Even so, the cookies stay fairly light in color thanks to the bleached flour and the small amount of shortening in the dough. The texture is very chewy as you'd expect from bakery-style cookies like Otis Spunkmeyer or the chocolate chip cookies from Subway.
Substitute for the ¼ Cup Shortening
The ¼ cup of shortening in the original recipe does a great job with texture, but it can leave a faint aftertaste. The good news is that you can leave it out and use more butter instead. I tested a second batch using all butter (¾ cup total) and heavy cream in place of the milk. Those cookies baked up darker and slightly smoother on the surface, but the flavor was noticeably better. If you're sensitive to shortening, the all-butter version is the one I'd recommend.
Batch Size
This is a straightforward, back-of-the-bag recipe designed to make "normal-size" cookies. I mention that because my chocolate chip cookie recipes are often jumbo like the Costco copycats or bakery-scale. These are reasonable portions for cookies. You should get about 48 small or 32 medium cookies, depending on how you scoop.
Pillsbury Flour Tip
This recipe was developed for Pillsbury's bleached flour, and it performs best with that product. Pillsbury flour is very light, weighing about 125-130 grams per cup, which affects how the cookies spread and bake. If you're measuring by volume rather than weight, it helps to stir the flour first, then spoon it lightly into the measuring cup and level it off.
Measuring flour sounds simple, but it's surprisingly easy to overdo it. Flour settles, measuring cups vary more than you'd expect, and some "1-cup" measures actually hold closer to 1¼ cups. I didn't fully believe this myself until I started comparing cups from different sets. If your cookies don't spread as expected, flour measurement is the first thing I'd double-check.
Recipe
Pillsbury Back of the Bag Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar (250 grams)
- ½ cup unsalted or salted butter, softened (114 grams)
- ¼ cup shortening or 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (48 grams shortening or 56 butter)
- 2 tablespoons whole milk or cream
- 1 large egg, room temperature (50 grams)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, bleached (260 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Beat the brown sugar, butter, shortening, milk and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat just until it is fully blended.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt and add to the bowl. Stir until blended, then stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a tablespoon or a medium size cookie scoop, scoop dough onto parchment lined or ungreased baking sheets and bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for about 2 minutes on baking sheet and carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Chilled Dough Ball Make Ahead Method
- On a plate lined with plastic wrap, foil or wax paper, drop medium size cookie scoops (or large tablespoons) of dough. Cover and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours but ideally a day or two. If storing longer, transfer the dough balls to the freezer.
- Arrange balls of dough on parchment lined baking sheets (or just use one sheet and bake as many balls of dough as you plan to eat).
- Bake on center rack for about 12 minutes or until cookies are brown around the edges.
- Let cool for 3 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool slightly before serving.
- For even better cookies, allow the cookies to cool completely, then store them in a zipper bag or a tin with a slice of bread. The next day they'll be even softer, but still dense and not cakey.
Anna says
Thanks for the comment Amanda! The bleached Pillsbury flour probably makes a difference in the cookies too. It's so interesting how flour varies from brand to brand. I'm going to try making them with vanilla powder, an ingredient I bought but have not yet tried.
Amanda says
I just made these and they came out perfect. I substituted half of the chips for chopped chocolate and used real vanilla bean placed in place of the vanilla.
This recipe very much mimics the Pillsberry style cookie of course there is actually has a ton of of chemicals, so I think this one’s better. Thanks for sharing it. Your tips help make the recipe much appreciated.
Anna says
Melanie, that's too bad! It's a back of the bag recipe, but not all back of the bag recipes work for everyone. If you are curious and want to try to figure out what went wrong, you could make the cookies again but be a little bit more precise measuring your ingredients. Weigh the flour or aerate it and spoon it lightly into the cups, REALLY pack the brown sugar or weigh it so that you get at least 250 grams -- you could even use up to 270 grams. Guessing you are not using a scale, but you shouldn't have to for a back of the bag recipe IMHO.
My feeling about this one is that your flour was dry and your 2 cups was more like 280 grams, so a heavy 2 cups, which you would have no way of knowing without a scale. And maybe your brown sugar was very soft and had a lot of moisture, so even if you packed it into the cup you were getting more water. Brown sugar can be very dry or very moist depending the brand how it's stored, weather. This recipe is all brown sugar so that leaves more room for error.
But these are slightly soft, so it's possible you might do better with a recipe that calls for a lot of sugar and less flour. Maybe give the Martha Stewart Fired Me Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe a try. There are lot of recipes out there! You'll find your perfect cookie.
Melanie says
This was the first time trying this recipe. I was not impressed by these cookies... I followed the recepie and ingredients completely.
turned out cakey and did not spread. Taste was bland as well.
Anna says
Hi Stephanie,
I've tried them all including both of the ones from Wal*Mart. The non-vegetable one does have the texture you describe, but I didn't care for the flavor and could taste it in cookies.
Stephanie says
I have read that Walmart shortening (the one that just says 'Shortening' and
not the one that says 'All Vegetable Shortening') has a better mouthfeel than say, Crisco. It has been compared to the high-ration shortening baker's use. It may be worth a test!
Anna says
I bought the bleached flour to make specific holiday cookies that call for it. More details to come!
Sue says
I appreciate that you tried an all butter version. I’m not 100% opposed to vegetable shortening. I appreciate what it does for cookie texture but like you said it really doesn’t do anything for the cookie’s flavor.
I also appreciate the “normal” size of these cookies. I love some of the bigger cookies but sometimes it is nice to have a cookie this size.
I don’t buy bleached flour very often but I know I’ve seen this recipe on the back of the bag. Thanks for trying it and writing about it.