This Is the Chocolate Chip Cookie That’s Been Loved Since 1947—Now You Can Add It to Your Recipe Box

When Hilary of @rumfieldhomestead shared her gorgeous collection of vintage Better Homes & Gardens cookbooks along with a tip that the best chocolate chip cookie appeared in the 1947 edition, we ran to our archives. We put the vintage dessert recipe to the test, and wholeheartedly agree—the cookies are fantastic. Our recipe tasters loved the crisp texture, with one commenting these would be “great with your morning coffee.” Here’s how to make our classic cookie, including tips for modernizing the recipe just a bit.

Tips for Making Our Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once you’ve tried our chocolate chip cookie recipe, try customizing it with our helpful Test Kitchen tips.

• You’ll want to really cream the shortening, vanilla, and sugars until cohesive; about 3 minutes depending on the mixer. Otherwise the dough will be too crumbly to work with.
• Rather than chocolate chips, use a chopped semi-sweet chocolate bar. The larger chunks will make the chocolate in the cookies stand out even more. 
• Toasting nuts before baking brings out their nutty flavor and helps to keep them crisp in the finished cookies. To toast nuts, preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread nuts in an even layer in a shallow baking pan. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until toasted, stirring once or twice.
• After you’ve worked to make the perfect dough, it’s important to choose a good cookie sheet. A cookie sheet should be heavy and not too thin. A thin sheet pan that doesn’t distribute heat evenly leads to uneven cooking and sometimes burning. Look for a pan that has one to two raised sides (at most), is light in color, and is non-insulated. This allows for good air circulation during baking. 
• As written, this recipe makes crispy chocolate chip cookies. If you prefer a chewier cookie replace half or all of the shortening with butter.