ALL AMERICAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

There are a few different versions of how the chocolate chip cookie was born. All versions point to Ruth Graves Wakefield being the inventor. Back in the 1930’s she made her chocolate cookies by melting baking chocolate and stirring it into the dough batter. The version I like the most is that Ruth ran out of the typical baking chocolate that she would use and substituted chunks of chopped chocolate hoping it would melt into the dough when it was cooking. It didn’t melt, obviously, and the chocolate chip cookie was born!

My favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies is the Nestle Toll House recipe, with minor changes. The first change is that I substituted Crisco for one of the two sticks of butter used in the recipe. I usually don’t cook with Crisco. But, I made the substitution because it helps the cookie hold its shape a bit more!

**Tip: Never melt the butter you are going to use in your cookie to “soften it.” It will make the cookies spread out and be super thin and shapeless after they are done baking. Instead, let the butter come to room temperature on the counter before you cream the sugar into it.

The only other thing I sometimes do that varries from the original recipe is to add a half a teaspoon of Almond Extract to the dough batter. It isn’t in the original recipe, but I think it adds something! Adding the chopped nuts or almond extract is totally optional, especially if you’re allergic to nuts!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do! My husband loves them, as well!

ALL AMERICAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

INGREDIENTS

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, softened

½ cup shortening (Crisco)

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 375° F

2. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together sugars, shortening, and butter until well mixed (using a fork is easiest)

4. Add eggs, vanilla, and almond extract to sugar mixture and beat until incorporated into a nice batter.

5. Add flour mixture to the batter and mix carefully until a somewhat sticky dough forms.

6. Add chocolate chips and chopped nuts, mix well.

7. Roll out medium sized dough balls with your hands and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

8. Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes, depending on how large you made the dough balls. I like my cookies soft, so I take them out of the oven when the dough stops shimmering and let them keep cooking on the pan outside the oven for a few minutes. You may have to play around with the cooking time until you get them exactly how you want them.

9. After 5-10 minutes of sitting out on the pan, transfer cookies to a drying rack to cool.

Enjoy!!

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