by A. L. Sugden

Created on: July 22, 2008   Last Updated: April 01, 2012

This is the recipe that won my husband's heart: his favorite food group is chocolate chip cookies. His little sister's recipe was always his favorite. She had quite spoiled him by making them regularly throughout high school. When I met him, he probably told me about her cookies more often than he talked about his mother's cooking.

At the time, I was new to the kitchen and had a 9 out of 10 record with cookies. That is, 9 out of 10 times something went wrong. I was nervous. I considered resigning that "Best of the Best" title to my future sister-in-law. But just before I did, he admitted that his sister's recipe was just shy of perfect. I had hope! I took notes of his wishes and created this recipe. When he tasted the finished cookies, the title became mine. He hasn't mentioned his sister's recipe since.

BIG BOY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

FACTS
Preheat oven to 375
Prep time: 25 minutes
Bake time: About 12 minutes per batch
Yield: About 20 meal-sized cookies
Serves: 1 husband and maybe 1 friend. If he shares.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 12-ounce package milk chocolate chips
1/2 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

PREPARE
1. In a large bowl, beat shortening on medium speed for 30 seconds.

2. Beat the following in order and until completely combined.
*Baking soda, white and brown sugar
*Eggs and vanilla
*Flour (add a little at a time, beating and stirring until combined.)

3. Stir in chocolate chips.

BAKE
1. Using a 1/4 cup measure, drop cookies about 4 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet.
2. Bake in a 375 oven for about 12 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.
3. Allow cookies to sit on cookie sheet until slightly cool. Transfer to cooling rack.

TIP
Use tin foil over the cookie sheet to prevent crumb build up. Grease it as you would a plain cookie sheet and be careful when transferring cookies so you don't tear the tin foil. When crumbs build up, or you get a bad batch, you can just throw the tin foil away, replace it and keep baking without having to wash your cookie sheet.

The best thing about these cookies is their size. I found that I can fit one cookie in a sandwich bag for my husband's lunches. He loves that his one cookie feels like ten. He also likes that I can usually only eat half - he gets my other half too. As a little boy, he loved his sister's chocolate chip cookies. Now that he's a "big boy," only my cookies will do.

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