Shortening vs Butter in Cookies

Have you ever wondered what makes the best chocolate chip cookie? We’re here to face off shortening vs butter in cookies using Original Nestle® Toll House® Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

Do you love to make cookies? Have you read our post where we answer your question, “Why are my cookies flat?”

If you’re ready to perfect your cookie-making game then you’ll love that article. But while my fingers were flying across the keyboard typing that post, I found myself thinking of so many more things I could tell you {or even show you} about cookie baking if we were sitting across the kitchen, chatting over a cup of coffee.

So let’s pretend I’m pouring you a cup of coffee and sharing a cookie with you, and let’s chat about chocolate chip cookies.

One of the biggest things that affect the texture and look of cookies is the choice of butter vs shortening in cookies. It’s a fierce battle, really. Some strongly stand on the shortening side, and others claim 100% that butter is the best.

I decided to put the Nestle Toll House Original Cookie Recipe to test here and made several batches of cookies with different combinations of butter and shortening, and also refrigeration and no refrigeration. Because we all know with 100% butter cookies that’s what works best, right?

Difference Between Shortening and Butter

But before we get into comparison pictures, let’s talk a little bit about the difference between shortening and butter.

• Vegetable shortening is 100% fat (it’s hydrogenated vegetable oil). It has a higher melting point than butter.
• Butter is also fat, but also has milk and water in it.
• Because of the milk and water in butter, it will melt more quickly under heat than shortening will.
• Shortening has no dairy in it at all, which makes it an option for those who can’t have dairy.
• Shortening generally makes baked goods softer. Think fluffy pumpkin cake, cinnamon sugar cookies and flaky pie crust.
• Shortening is flavorless. Butter adds a rich flavor to baked goods such as biscuits and homemade buttercream.

So that is what the pros say about shortening vs butter in cookies.

Now for the real results. Get ready, friends…we’re on a cookie-eating roller coaster. Buckle up!

These were no surprise. Butter spreads quickly, so if you choose butter, refrigerate your cookies.

I knew cookies baked with shortening didn’t spread as much, but look at those results!

Refrigerating cookie dough with shortening didn’t do anything in my eyes. It almost made the cookies worse because the cookies didn’t brown as nicely and took longer to cook.

Again, overnight refrigeration with shortening doesn’t do much for the cookies. 1 hour refrigeration was better than overnight here.

You can tell now where what we were zoning in on….half butter and half shortening.

So here’s the results of our fun. If you’re going looks, shortening won, hands down. The cookies stayed plump, nicely brown and soft. The flavor was very good, but the cookies were a little more sweet than rich butter cookies.

Our Favorite Cookies

Our favorites? ½ shortening, ½ butter, refrigerated for one hour. Why were these our favorites?

• They look pretty.
• They browned nicely.
• You get some of that butter flavor, but the cookies still hold their shape and don’t run all over the pan.
• By refrigerating the dough for an hour and baking for about 9 minutes, the cookies stay crisp on around the very edges and a little soft & chewy in the middle.

Just the way we like cookies.