Seven.something decades ago, when the Lord was putting me together inside my mother (Psalm 139:15), he gave me one talent, and only one. Chocolate chip cookies. No wonder I’ve battled the bulge all my adult life!
Actually, I have to give my annoying little brother part of the credit for my success with c.c. cookies. (That’s you, Carl.) Many, many, many years ago, he said to me, “Next time you make cookies, take them out right before you think they’re done.”
Now, in those days, I wasn’t inclined to pay much attention to Carl. But in that case, for some nebulous reason, I decided I would take his advice. The next time I made cookies, I took them out before I thought it was time, and they were a hit! The cookies retained more moisture with less baking time, and they turned out soft and yummy.
Many years later, I asked Carl how he knew I should take chocolate chip cookies out of the oven before I thought they were done. He didn’t know what I was talking about. Sigh. I wish I had asked him at the time, but why would I, for crying out loud? He was just my bratty little brother.
How Do You Make Those Cookies?
Fast forward to Christmas weekend, 2021. My nephew asked me about my c.c. cookie recipe. I told him what I always tell people: I got it off the Toll House chocolate chips package.
The next week, I suddenly wondered if the recipe on the package is still the same as it was a million years ago when I copied it down on a 3 x 5 card. So I checked a package, and it didn’t even have the recipe on it. Hmmm…
Since I’ve been asked for the recipe quite a few times in my life and always gave the same answer – which may not be true, I now realized – I decided to blog it.
Way back there in the hazy past, when I copied the ingredients for the cookies, I didn’t actually write the instructions. So, I’ll include directions, but they’re not official. They’re my report of what I do.
Ingredients:
1 cup Crisco
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
11.5 oz. package of chocolate chips (I prefer milk chocolate, but I’ve made a lot of cookies with semi-sweet in my life.)
1 cup pecans or walnuts, optional
Instructions:
1 Preheat oven to 360̊ F.
2 In a large bowl, blend shortening, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer.
3 Add eggs. (I add one and beat it inside the bowl before blending the whole mixture. Then I add the other egg, beat it, and blend the whole mixture.)
4 Add flour, baking soda, and salt. I add this mixture in about four lots, blending well after each addition.
5 Add chocolate chips (and nuts, if desired) and mix by hand with a spoon.
6 Form dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. (Lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper will allow cookies to slide right off when you’re ready to take them up.) Bake until you think the cookies are nearly done. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies cool.
I prefer those cookie sheets with a layer of air between two sheets of metal. It’s easier to get the top of the cookies done without the bottoms getting too done.
I’m sure ovens vary, so this is just a point of reference: The last time I baked, the cookies on the pan with air underneath took between 13 and 14 minutes. The pan without the air were done in 12 minutes or a little less.In case you’re interested, I hate measuring ingredients – a messy necessity. So, anytime I make cookies, I usually measure out the dry ingredients for 3 or 4 batches and store them in separate containers.
Let’s say I decide to prepare for 3 batches of cookies. I’ll have six containers. In 3 containers, I’ll put sugar/brown sugar mixtures. In the other 3 containers, I’ll put the flour, salt, baking soda mixtures. Then when it’s time to bake, all I have to do is pour things into a mixing bowl. (Of course, I buy my Crisco pre-measured!)
Disclaimer: I am not a cook, a chef, a baker, or anything related. And the only kind of cookies I make are chocolate chip. So, this whole blog is just the wild rantings of an amateur baker of chocolate chip cookies. I make no promises and offer no guarantees.
And last, I have to urge my readers to ignore this blog. In light of the fact that I believe a sugar-free lifestyle is the wisest, healthiest choice you can make, I MUST encourage you not to bake or eat any of these cookies! (For my ramblings about gaining weight, losing weight, and avoiding sugar, please click here.)
My thanks to Grayson Smith on unsplash.com for the featured image.