Nana's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy New Year!!!!!

It was my intention to share this recipe with you several days ago, but for some reason the phone company has been working on our internet lines and they have been up and down for a few days now...mostly down. This is not only aggravating to me, but also to my 4 year old whose favorite joy in life is to play on PBSKids.org. There is no explaining to that boy that the computer isn't working right now without a COMPLETE meltdown.

Anyway, this recipe is the one I used to make all of the cookies for the Habitat volunteers. In fact, this is the only recipe I ever use to make chocolate chip cookies. I think this recipe may be one of the main reasons my husband asked me to marry him. Ok, that may be a stretch, but he sure does love these cookies. After work...warm...with milk. Yummy!

Nana's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
12 oz. chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix thoroughly shortening, margarine, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Blend in baking soda, salt and 1 cup flour. Blend in the remaining 2 cups of flour, one at a time.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfulls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes until light brown. Cool slightly before removing from pan.



Tips!

1) My Mom always stores them in an airtight container with a slice of bread to keep them moist. I like to keep the dough in my fridge and bake up only about a dozen at a time, so there are never any left to store. This way I can TRY and regulate how much sugar my children are eating at one time.

2) Refrigerate the dough after mixing it up for at least 30 minutes and roll the dough into teaspoon sized balls and place on the cookie sheets - this keep them from spreading out too thin and becoming crunchy. We like chewy cookies in my house.

3) My Mom says you can add an extra 1/2 cup flour for an even softer cookie. I have never needed the extra 1/2 cup and I don't know if it has anything to do with our geographic differences or not (she is in New England, I am in the Deep South) but keep that in mind, in case you need it.