The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes I can now say I make really good Chocolate Chip Cookies. I can say that without feeling like I’m “toot’n my own horn”, because for so long I was known in my family as the worst cookie maker. I could not figure out how to get the cookies fluffy and yummy and still be soft and not hard. I finally figured it out. Every time I make them I get people asking me for the recipe. Here it is. Enjoy….

The Best EVER Chocolate Chip Cookies         Ashley Whiting
Note: This is your basic Toll House Cookie recipe, but with more
brown sugar, more baking soda, more chocolate chips.

1 cup Crisco butter flavored all-vegetable shortening, (conveniently sold in sticks, like butter)
1/2 cup regular white granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed and overflowing
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, (use real extract, not imitation vanilla flavoring)
2eggs, (eggs must be at room temperature and added one at a time)
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2  1/2  cups of all-purpose flour
3 cups  of semi-sweet chocolate chips (that is a lot of chips) add to your liking

Mix the ingredients in the order listed. Use a mix-master if you have one.
Mix in the last cup of flour by hand. Of course, add the chocolate chips by
hand. Don’t over-mix as this may toughen the cookies. You may need to add
a touch more flour to achieve a perfect consistency.

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. I have made them very large and very small, both work nicely.  Also, keep in mind that the oven rack should be directly in
the center of the oven. Use only this center oven rack, and only place one
cookie sheet in the oven at a time.

Bake at 350 or so for about seven minutes, and then rotate the cookie sheet
so the cookies bake evenly. Bake for another four or five minutes, for a
total of about 10-12 minutes baking time. If you have a nifty convection
oven, then consider yourself lucky and you can skip the rotation step. I have a convection oven. (I haven’t tried them with out)

Now, this is the important part: When the cookies are a nice browned color
(not under-cooked, not over-cooked, just right), then take the cookie sheet
out of the oven and set aside for one minute to allow the cookies to set.
Keep in mind that the cookies are continually baking as long as they remain
on the cookie sheet. Don’t over-cook!

Let the cookies cool a bit and enjoy!