My Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies (with my modifications)

My friend Emily (great girl, fun blog--go read it!) recently asked me for a good chocolate chip recipe. And since I can't really think of a better recipe than the one I have been making for literally as long as I can remember, I thought I would post it here. I have a picture of me scooping little balls of cookie dough onto a greased cookie tray when I was 9 or 10 years old--and I have loved making cookies since that young age. Over the years I have altered my mother's recipe some, but not too much. Truthfully, it is very close to the recipe found on the back of most chocolate chip cookie recipes--but it's mine, and I love it, and that's what counts. (So did the Friends episode where Monica cooks hundreds of batches of cookies trying to replicate Phoebe's grandmother's recipe just come to mind? And in the end, it was the recipe on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse chip bag? Funny funny episode)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I prefer dark brown, but you can use light)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 scant cups flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 bag chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet over milk chocolate in these cookies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and shortening together, then add sugars. Beat until well mixed and fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture in increments. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls (your choice in size--teaspoon for small cookies, tablespoon for larger cookies, or ice cream scoops for giant cookies!) onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Note: my mother used 1 cup of shortening instead of a butter/shortening mix. Butter adds richness, while shortening gives the cookies some shape and 'heft' (they don't flatten out so easily). I use a scant three cups; most 'back of the bag' recipes call for 2 3/4 cups of flour, but I can't deviate from my momma's instructions too much. I like a soft cookie, so I tend to err on the shorter baking time, sometimes even decreasing the oven temperature. You should play with it until you find what works for you. 

Hmm, I am longing for chocolate chip cookies now! I used to bake cookies more often and take them to Nathan's classes regularly, but in the recent years his classes have grown to such size that it is difficult to bake for them. We still work it out on occasion, though, so new students at SEBTS--be warned! Cookies might be coming!