Chocolate Chip Cookie Love

I discovered when I was in third grade that I loved to bake. My mom celebrated this news with a happy dance and gleefully handed the family baking over to me. From that point on I have baked and experimented and tried to perfect lots of cookie recipes. I love baking cookies more than anything else, but I am not a baking snob. I enjoy baking other things, too. I love cookies that are a little crunchy and I love anything chocolate, which makes chocolate chip cookies one of my all time true loves. I can remember trying recipe after recipe just to find what I considered to be the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Some were good and some, well, not so much. I think I was in sixth grade when I tried a recipe on the back of a package of store brand chocolate chips that my mom brought home. These cookies were everything I had been looking for! The skies opened up and the angels sang. Oh, I continued to try other recipe over the years but kept coming back to my favorite, which proved itself over and over.

Baking just plain makes me happy. The only time I don't enjoy baking is when I feel obligated. Then I get grumpy and go buy cookies. What I love most of all is that cookies almost always make people happy. My girls now love baking, which means I have done my job as a mother.  :) 

Being that it is the best month of the year and I am celebrating a milestone birthday, I have decided to focus on all the things that I love. So, I am going to start by sharing my favorite recipe. I am doing this with a preface (or two). I am not a professional baker, nor do I intend to become one. I cook and bake what I love. I am a messy cook and I tend to follow my own rules. So, please, if you choose to try my recipe, make modifications that make you happy. I don't care for nuts. If you do, add 'em. I use shortening because I like the that the cookies are a little puffy and I like the texture. If you prefer butter or margarine, use it instead. I use a stone baking sheet from Pampered Chef because I have a tendency to be easily distracted and I find they don't burn as easy on this sheet. If you have a favorite baking sheet, use it. My feelings won't be hurt. Honest. I also use a cookie scoop - it looks like a small ice cream scoop - because all the cookies end up being about the same size. I only used it because my friend, Karen, gave it to me. Now I love it. If you don't have one, use a spoon. So, all that being said, I hope you enjoy my favorite cookies. And the best month of the year.  :)

Ann's Kinda Famous, Fair Winning*, Full of Deliciousness Chocolate Chip Cookies

(*I got a first place at the fair for them, but some other cookies got first place, too. I didn't win the Grand Prize. It's just fun saying I got a first at the fair....)

1 C Butter-Flavored Shortening (I like the pre-measured little shortening stick things)

1 C Sugar

1/2 C packed Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

2-1/4 C Flour

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 small bag of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (unless you are having a hankering for milk chocolate)

(I just add some handfuls of chocolate chips because I buy them in a HUGE bag and put them in a glass container where I can see them. Because I love them. Add as many as makes you happy.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together shortening and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Add chocolate chips and mix well.

Place on baking sheet and bake from 10-15 minutes depending on your oven.

Most importantly - enjoy.