Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (2024)

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Cooking With Kids, Desserts, Summer, Uncategorized

***This is a repost from a few years back, but this is still a really popular recipe on our website, so I thought I’d repost. Are you going to the fair this summer? If not, you can still enjoy the tastes at home with this delectable recipe!***

It’s State Fair Time here in Iowa, and boy do Iowan’s love their State Fair. We love everything from the animals, to the rides, to the shows. And then of course there is everything you can imagine to eat deep fried and served on a stick. This year’s new food highlights includeFunnel Bacon on a Stick and Fried Fruit Kabob. (I’m trying to picture both of those and am puzzled…)

Anyway, I don’t go for the new “on the stick” item each year. Instead, I go for a classic, the bucket of warm, chewy (and somehow just a little crunchy), mini chocolate chip cookies. You know the ones! They are heavenly! Don’t worry; I don’t eat the entire bucket myself. While that would be entirely possible, I do share these perfect gems with my husband and kiddos.
Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (1)
This photo of Iowa State Fairgrounds is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Recently, I got to thinking that there were just too good to only have once a year.I determined to do my best to recreate them at home. This was a good decision. 🙂

Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (2)

After playing around with the recipe a bit I think I’ve hit the nail of the head. I ended up using a combination of butter and shortening. I also used both brown and white sugar, lots of vanilla, and mini-chocolate chips. They were perfect!! So chewy, with just a little crunch, and of course lots of gooey chocolate. YUMMMMM

Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (3)

Now tell me, what State Fair do you go to? What is your favorite thing to eat there?

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Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe)

Author:Annie

Recipe type:American

Cuisine:Dessert

Prep time:

Cook time:

Total time:

Serves:5 dozen mini cookies

Ingredients

  • ½ C butter at room temperature
  • ½ C shortening
  • 2 t vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ C brown sugar
  • 1 C white sugar
  • 2¼ C flour
  • ½ t baking soda
  • ¾ t salt
  • 1½ C mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Using a paddle attachment on a stand mixer, mix the butter, shortening, vanilla, eggs, brown sugar, and white sugar together.
  3. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix on low until combined. At this point, you may need to add a bit more flour if your dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl. (I sometimes need to add about ¼ C)
  4. Fold in the chocolate chips.
  5. Scoop into balls that are half the size of a normal size cookie dough ball. I happened to have a melon baller and used that, which was perfect.
  6. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (4)

Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (5)

About Annie

Annie spends her days learning alongside her five kids, reading aloud intriguing literature, and whipping up new recipes in the kitchen. She and her family live in Southern California, enjoying both the mountains and the ocean.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (6)Mindy says

    Those look so good, Annie! I am definitely going to try your recipe — Barksdale’s cookies were the first thing I had at the Iowa State Fair this year! I still have four days left of attending, so plenty of time to enjoy a meal at the pork tent (probably a pork burger or maybe the new bacon cheddar brat burger), breakfast at Cattleman’s Beef Quarters (and a burger for lunch, too), a corn dog from Campbell’s, cheese curds from Brad & Harry’s, margherita pizza at Parlo’s Pizza on the hill, caprese salad on a stick from The Salad Bowl in the ag building, honey lemonade from the honey producers in the ag building, a soft-serve cone from The Dairy Barn, and my all-time fave…a peppermint bar from Bauder’s ice cream stand. I can’t pick just one — that’s like choosing which of my kids is my favorite!

    • Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (7)Annie says

      Oh my goodness! You are a State Fair Food Expert! I would expect no less from someone who competes (and wins!) in so many State Fair competitions. Have a wonderful time!

  2. Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (8)Francene says

    What type of shortening do u use?

    • Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (9)Annie says

      I use Crisco. 😊

  3. Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (11)Kathy Sawhill says

    By far, my favorite thing to eat at the fair is a turkey drumstick or a gyro. Always have to have a lemonade to go with either!

    • Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (12)Annie says

      I love all of your favorites, too!

Iowa State Fair Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Copycat Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

Why were chocolate chip cookies a mistake? ›

1. The chocolate chip cookie was created by accident. In the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, added broken chocolate bar pieces into her cookie batter thinking that they would melt. Instead, the classic dessert was born.

Why do my chocolate chip cookies look like biscuits? ›

If your cookies come out looking more like biscuits, you've likely added too much flour. Our cookies didn't expand much from the rolled-up balls we put on the baking sheet. They also didn't brown as well as the other cookies. It doesn't take much—in this case, my mom and I added just 3/4 cup extra flour to the dough.

How to doctor up chocolate chip cookie mix? ›

Here are our seven favorite ways to gild the chocolate-chip-cookie lily:
  1. Brown your butter. ...
  2. Whisk coffee grounds or espresso powder into the flour. ...
  3. Use hand-chopped chunks, not chips. ...
  4. Stir crunchy cereal into the dough. ...
  5. Fold in your favorite snack food. ...
  6. Sprinkle dough balls with flaky salt before baking.
Mar 6, 2015

How to make store bought chocolate chip cookies taste homemade? ›

No one will even suspect they're store-bought (and we won't tell anyone!).
  1. Add brown sugar. ...
  2. Experiment with extracts. ...
  3. Mix in different candies and snacks. ...
  4. Add espresso or coffee grounds. ...
  5. Deepen the flavors by refrigerating the dough. ...
  6. Salt before baking the cookies. ...
  7. Reduce baking time for extra soft cookies.

What is unhealthy about chocolate chip cookies? ›

Traditional chocolate cookies and chocolate chip cookies are not considered to be healthy on their own due to the large amount of sugar and butter used to make them. However, you can still enjoy these cookies in moderation and as part of a healthy diet.

Why are they called toll house cookies? ›

The Toll House Inn was an inn located in Whitman, Massachusetts, established in 1930 by Kenneth and Ruth Graves Wakefield. The Toll House chocolate chip cookies are named after the inn.

What makes chocolate chip cookies taste so good? ›

The caramelized butter, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, and subtle notes of salt offer a balanced flavor profile. The saltiness highlights and enhances the preexisting flavors. But what makes for the perfect chocolate chip cookie? You get what you pay for, and high-quality ingredients equate to a high-quality product.

Should you rest chocolate chip cookie dough? ›

But there's one rule that works for just about every chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, and it's the answer to a common cookie baking question: Does resting your cookie dough make better cookies? The short answer is: Yes. Resting your dough in the refrigerator will almost always yield better results.

Can you over mix chocolate chip cookie dough? ›

Overmixing your batter can lead to runny cookies.

I mixed the batter more than I should have both during the creaming stage of the recipe and after adding the flour. As a result, the cookies came out light and airy, and I was able to taste the butter more prominently in this batch than in others.

Should you chill chocolate chip cookies before baking? ›

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

How to improve store bought chocolate chip cookie dough? ›

Balancing Sweetness: Salt helps balance out the sweetness of the cookie dough and chocolate. By adding a sprinkle of salt on top, you create a contrast that enhances the flavors and prevents the cookies from tasting overly sweet. Amplifying Flavor: Salt is known to amplify and enhance flavors.

Why do my homemade chocolate chip cookies get hard? ›

Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly. The lack of moisture makes the cookies hard and dry, which makes them difficult to enjoy.

Why did my chocolate chip cookies fail? ›

Try decreasing the number of eggs in your recipe, or use egg yolks in place of whole eggs. Too much sugar, not enough flour. Using too little flour will prevent rising, and too much sugar will result in more spreading since sugar liquefies when heated. The baking sheet was too warm or greasy.

What were chocolate chip cookies supposed to be? ›

The original recipe was created in the late 1930s by Ruth Wakefield who famously ran the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts. The delicious mix of crispy cookie and melted chocolate chunks first appeared in her 1938 cookbook “Tried and True,” and was intended to accompany ice cream.

Why did dads stop making chocolate chip cookies? ›

The decision by Mondelez International to discontinue the chocolate chip variety of Dad's cookies was due to poor sales. “They were discontinued late last year and took a few months to work their way through store shelves,” said Stephanie Cass of Mondelez Canada, the company that owns Dad's brand.

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