Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies – You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it’s not overpowering! If you’re looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Olive Oil

The popularity of desserts made with olive oil rather than butter is catching on!

If you’re wanting to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe that produces soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies that are loaded with chocolate, look no rather than this recipe.

You won’t even need to set out any butter out beforehand to come up to room temperature! One nice perk of baking with olive oil rather than butter.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

Baking With Olive Oil

Although it’s not very traditional, it’s a thing, and as I just mentioned I think it’s catching on because I see more and more desserts made with olive oil.

I actually made these cookies early on in 2020 before life changed for the whole world, and the recipe got lost in my drafts, but here we are closing in on two years later and it’s being published! 

Two of my very favorite cakes, including my hands-down favorite lemon dessert, are cakes that are made with olive oil.

Namely, this Lemon Olive Oil Cake which was inspired by this Olive Oil Orange Cake.

This cookie recipe is actually a spinoff of these Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I use olive oil instead. 

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

Ingredients in Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

For these seriously good olive oil chocolate chip cookies, you’ll need: 

  • Olive oil
  • Light brown sugar
  • Granulated sugar
  • Egg
  • Vanilla extract
  • All-purpose flour
  • Instant vanilla pudding mix
  • Baking soda
  • Salt
  • Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

How to Make Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies 

To make the dough, I used olive oil, along with an egg, sugars, vanilla and after getting the dough to the point where you add the dry ingredients, it’s very different looking than other cookie dough.

It’s shaggy and it’s both oily and dry. You’ll think something is horribly wrong, but it’s fine.

Mix in the chocolate chips and using a cookie scoop or your hands, form approximately 21 equal-sized balls. You need to compress and compact the dough by squeezing it and it’ll come together. Don’t be afraid to really squeeze it. As a bonus, your hands will be wonderfully moisturized from the olive oil.

If your dough is absolutely not coming together, and is fluffy, crumbly, or too dry, drizzle in one tablespoon of olive oil at a time until it comes together. Do this as a last resort because it can make the dough oily in a hurry.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

Chill The Dough

You must chill the dough before baking. It’s absolutely crucial for thick, puffy, full cookies.

If you bake with warm dough, your cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter and the olive oil will render them oil puddles rather than cookies.

Can I Chill the Dough and Then Form the Cookies? 

No, I don’t recommend doing that since the dough becomes hard as a rock once chilled.

It’s really hard to shape cookie dough once it’s chilled, so follow the recipe instructions as I’ve written it for best results. 

Underbaking Is The Way To Go

I baked the cookies for 9 minutes, but if you choose to make smaller or larger cookies, you’ll need to adjust the baking time accordingly

The secret to these cookies is keeping them a touch underbaked, which I think is the secret to most good cookies.  

There is something about the olive oil that causes them to be have a firmer exterior than other cookies and overbaking them would be the kiss of death and they’d set up far too firm.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

Can You Taste The Olive Oil?

In the cakes I’ve made with olive oil, I wouldn’t have specifically guessed it was olive oil, although it’s discernable they’re oil-based versus butter-based cakes.

With respect to these cookies, the raw dough tastes strongly of olive oil, but upon baking, it mellows dramatically. You can taste it, but in an unexpected and interesting way.

If you’re up for being adventurous and baking a unique batch of chocolate chip cookies, I’d say go for it.

And if you’re not, I have at least 30 different chocolate chip cookie recipes, many featured below in the related recipes section that follow this recipe.

However, no hard feelings if olive oil cookies don’t sound like your jam!

Can I Use Vegetable or Coconut Oil in This Recipe? 

Without having tried it myself, I can’t say for sure with regard to vegetable oil.

But since this recipe is closely adapted from these Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies, and they turn out amazing, feel free to use coconut oil.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

What Kind Of Olive Oil To Use?

I used Trader Joe’s Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The in-store price is about $8.99 in California and it’s what I cook with and have on hand so that’s what I used.

I’m sure the flavor of the cookies will change slightly depending on if you use extra virgin versus virgin olive oil, the region the olives were grown such as Italy or Spain, and so forth.

I recommend using your favorite or the everyday olive oil that you have in your pantry and not buying anything special for this recipe.

Do I Have to Use Pudding Mix? 

Yes, the instant vanilla pudding mix is a must in this recipe! You want to get the instant mix, not the cook and serve kind (and also don’t get sugar-free).

You don’t actually make the pudding according to package instructions, you just add it to the cookie dough and treat it like a dry ingredient. 

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!

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Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Averie Sunshine
Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies - You won’t miss the butter in these olive oil chocolate chip cookies!! They’re soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate, and have a unique flavor from the olive oil but it's not overpowering! If you're looking for a twist on classic chocolate chip cookies, try these!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 9 minutes
Additional Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 24 minutes
Servings: 21
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Ingredients  

  • ¾ cup olive oil
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • one 3.5-ounce packet instant vanilla pudding mix, not sugar-free and not ‘cook & serve’, no substitutions
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for adding to the tops if desired

Instructions 

  • To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the oil, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.
  • Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
  • Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Mixture will look shaggy and be both oily yet dry and crumbly; this is okay.
  • Using a medium cookie scoop, form approximately 21 equal-sized mounds of dough by compressing, compacting, and squeezing until the dough comes together; don’t be afraid to really squeeze it. (See Notes 1 and 2 below)
  • Place mounds on a large plate or tray, flatten slightly (when properly chilled, cookies don’t flatten much while baking so flatten them now), cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days. Alternatively, chill in the freezer for about 1 hour. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading. Make sure the cookies are in the exact shape you want them before chilling, because it’s exceedingly difficult to re-shape them after chilling - they will just fall apart. Before chilling, if desired, add a few additional chips to the top of each mound of dough.
  • Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
  • Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Notes

1. If your dough is absolutely not coming together, and is fluffy, crumbly, or seemingly too dry, drizzle in one tablespoon of oil at a time until it comes together. Do this as a last resort because it can make the dough oily in a hurry. 
2. The chips are prone to falling out, but just keep pushing them back in.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 238kcal, Carbohydrates: 33g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 9mg, Sodium: 205mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 21g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

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