"Supreme" Chocolate Chip Cookies

*Photo courtesy of Mary Gajda 

Capital Area Women's Lifestyle Magazine

Anyone that knows me even a little, knows that I love to BAKE! It's in my "genes" - my great-grandfather on my mom's side owned a bakery in Missouri.

One cookie that I have tried many times to make and failed just as many times are chocolate chip cookies!! That's just about one of the easiest cookies to make, right!?!?! Mine have turned out under-baked, over-baked, stuck to the cookie sheet - you name it and it's happened to me and chocolate chip cookies.  I make chocolate chip "bars" instead and follow the recipe on the Nestle Toll House Morsels bag! Well, I bit the "bullet" and made some chocolate chip cookies yesterday afternoon. I looked through cookbooks, on the Internet and in my mom's old recipe boxes. The basic recipe seemed to be the same ingredients, though a few had baking powder in addition to baking soda. I associate baking power with biscuits. A lot of the recipes just said "brown sugar." There is dark and light; butter is salted and unsalted. If you are already putting in additional salt, why would you want salted butter?!?! I like crispy cookies, so I used shortening, instead of all butter. How many of you remember back in the day, when we didn't have non-stick cooking spray and used shortening to "grease" pans?!?!?! Okay, enough about all that stuff! Semi-sweet morsels are wonderful, but I've always thought they are a little bitter. I prefer milk chocolate chips now. I had part of a bag kicking around of peanut butter chips, so I used those too! Pecans were in my freezer, so they got tossed in also. I really had to restrain myself from putting anything else in!!! I took no chances with baking on the cookie sheet, I put parchment paper covering the total cookie sheet. You are supposed to make these "drop" cookies, but I rolled them up the size of a golf ball and plopped a dozen on a sheet. I set the timer for 8 minutes and they looked raw, I added three more minutes and they were just starting to turn a little brown. I gave them yet another 3 minutes and they were perfect. After spending five minutes on the sheet, I easily removed them to a wire rack. Nothing was stuck!! Yahoo! Dominic has been branching out and trying new things lately. Anytime in the past that I have tried to give him a chocolate chip cookie, he has flat out refused. I offered him one that was slightly warm and he came over, took it and started walking back towards me. I thought he was going to give it back. Instead, he waved and walked back into the family room! He totally LOVES these cookies now. He even had two for breakfast. Yes, in our house, sometimes you eat cookies for breakfast!!!!

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups white flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter, unsalted

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup milk chocolate chips

2/3 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and set aside. In a large bowl, put all the ingredients in the order given, except the milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and the pecans. Mix with a large spoon until combined well. "Fold" in the remaining ingredients. Roll the batter into about the size of a golf ball. Place a dozen at a time on the cookie sheet and bake 11-13 minutes or until brown. Let them hang out on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to continue to cool. Makes 3 1/2 dozen. 

*If you want to get "fancy," my new favorite thing to do is "drizzle" chocolate on baked items, I did it recently on pumpkin and oatmeal scones AND for the first time, I did it on these cookies!!  You just need to wait for the cookies to completely cool first! I used the four-ounce Baker's Premium Baking Bars, they make a bunch of different flavors. So far, I have used the "German's Sweet Chocolate" and the "Semi-Sweet Chocolate." Just melt them in a bowl in the microwave and take a spoon and drizzle! There is no wrong way to do it!!!!