Do you know a chocolate chip cookie recipe that doesn't use butter or shortening?

December 22, 2006 6:32 PM

I'm making chocolate-chip cookies tonight and I have no butter or shortening. Can you suggest recipes without either?

I forgot to get butter at the grocery store when I went shopping for ingredients. My wife has the car and all the markets within walking distance have closed by now. I haven't found any recipes online without butter or shortening or some other random things I don't have. Here is what I have that might be useful for making cookies.

Chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
Dark chocolate (bars)
Whipped chocolate cake frosting (ill considered impulse buy)
Peanut butter and chocolate swirl chips
Peanut butter chips
Peanut butter
Flour
Salt
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Marshmallows (mini)
Cinnamon (ground)
Cocoa
Baking powder
Baking soda
Vanilla extract
Corn starch
Milk
Canned pumpkin
Cranberry sauce
Mustard
Cat (only one, so no multiple cat recipes)

posted by Kattullus to Food & Drink (19 answers total)

vegatable oil?
posted by saffry at 6:38 PM on December 22, 2006

Response by poster: Nope, just olive oil (yuck!)

I do have Worcestershire sauce though. I mean, it's good with so many things, why not in cookies?
posted by Kattullus at 6:41 PM on December 22, 2006

My mom used to make brownies with applesauce instead of butter. At the time I thought they were a weak willed hippie substitute, but in later years I loved them. It's a starting point...
posted by Science! at 6:41 PM on December 22, 2006

From allrecipes, here are the 54 results for cookie recipes with chocolate chips and flour, but without butter, crisco, or shortening. (Modify search as needed.)
posted by daisyace at 6:43 PM on December 22, 2006

Use vegetable oil. The cookies will be somewhat thinner, harder, and drier. Any chance you could wait 'til she gets back with the car?
posted by rkent at 6:45 PM on December 22, 2006

Add margarine to that list and it drops to 35, but still that's 35!
posted by Science! at 6:46 PM on December 22, 2006

Response by poster: Don't have applesauce! Or margarine. Or vegetable oil. Or cornflakes (curses shredded wheats! Why did I get you instead of corn flakes? My problems would be over had I done so)

The list is everything that I have in my kitchen that might be useful (it's fairly empty now, I just returned from a trip abroad). I searched through allrecipes and epicurious pretty thoroughly, but there might be something I missed. By google-fu is not especially mighty.
posted by Kattullus at 6:55 PM on December 22, 2006

You could do peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Here's one recipe that uses no additional butter. I am sure you can omit the extra peanuts if you don't have 'em.
posted by cabingirl at 6:56 PM on December 22, 2006

What's wrong with olive oil? You're not going to taste it under peanut butter and chocolate. Just sub it in a recipe that uses any other vegetable oil
posted by Listener at 6:59 PM on December 22, 2006

Hmm, after eliminating vegetable oil and gift jars of 'cookie mix' from the 35 that were left, though, there's not much. It does appear that eliminating 'butter' on allrecipes also wipes out 'peanut butter' which might otherwise be your saving grace. How committed are you to needing the result to be a chocolate chip cookie? As opposed to, say, the rocky road bars that head up this version of the search? (Assuming you don't have an egg for the cabingirl's otherwise nice suggestion.)
posted by daisyace at 6:59 PM on December 22, 2006

Response by poster: Oh curses! I have to remove one item from the list. The peanut butter jar is nearly empty. I thought it was new, but it wasn't. I really thought cabingirl's suggestion would work.
posted by Kattullus at 7:01 PM on December 22, 2006

Best answer: Here's another; it calls for canned pumpkin and peanut butter.
posted by cabingirl at 7:02 PM on December 22, 2006

Response by poster: Oh damn! I forgot to add that I had eggs. Which I do. Even I don't forget to get eggs when going shopping for cookie ingredients.
posted by Kattullus at 7:02 PM on December 22, 2006

Oh, and it says you can omit the PB. Which should help!
posted by cabingirl at 7:03 PM on December 22, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks cabingirl! I do have everything for the vegan chocolate chip cookies.
posted by Kattullus at 7:04 PM on December 22, 2006

If you have eggs, you could make these. I imagine you could add chocolate chips, too.
posted by chickletworks at 7:06 PM on December 22, 2006

Seriously... hwy not olive oil? Many desserts benefit from a savoury component to them. And hell, my favourite chocolatier does truffles with basil and so on.

Give it a whirl.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 7:07 PM on December 22, 2006

(Those pushing olive oil may be interested to know that there's olive oil cake out there.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:23 PM on December 22, 2006

Response by poster: For those interested, I made the vegan chocolate chip cookies cabingirl linked to, with a few alterations. I substituted real eggs for the egg replacer, left out the peanut butter and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top. It's delicious! Even my wife, who just returned home, and doesn't like pumpkin, really likes them.

Victory!

Ask.metafilter... is there anything it can't do?
posted by Kattullus at 8:50 PM on December 22, 2006 [1 favorite]