A batch of some of my decorated Christmas cookies from years ago
Just the smell of a buttery vanilla sugar cookie can make me think about Christmas time. Regardless of what time of year it is when I bite into one, it is Christmas for me.
And like so many other people, chocolate chip cookies been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Chocolate chip cookies remind me of so many things in my life.
When I first went off to college, I was able to generate a feeling of home by making slice and bake chocolate chip cookies in the community kitchen of the dorm. Back then I would stud the cookie dough with M&Ms before baking to give them my personal ‘homemade” touch. But truth be told, they never did really taste like homemade.
When Hilary (my former wife) and I first set up housekeeping, it was in a cute little apartment in Richmond. This was the first time I ever had a real kitchen of my own, or I should say our own.
The dinner table in the kitchen of our first apartment together
I have so many fond memories of that time. Anyone lucky enough to know Hilary can tell you how wonderful and sweet she is.
Hilary and I when we were first married
Hilary and I didn’t have any spare money back then (funny how after all these years I find that I am back in the same predicament). We did make one financial splurge though. Each Sunday Hilary or I would make a fresh batch of Chocolate Chip cookies that we would make last through the week. It was our special treat.
When it was Hilary’s turn to make the cookies, she followed the Nestle Toll House recipe that is printed on the back of the chocolate chips bag. When I made them, I followed a different recipe and often added some crunchy peanut butter to the cookie dough to make the cookies tender rather than crisp. Both recipes were good and if I am not mistaken, Hilary and our kids still use the Nestle Toll House recipe.
It was while working at Central Fidelity Bank in the corporate marketing department, that a friend of mine, Rick Thompson, told me that if I put a slice of bread in with my cooled cookies when I stored them that it would keep the cookies soft. It works like a charm. The bread gets hard and stale but the cookies stay moist and soft. If you like soft cookies, give it a try sometime.
I often prefer to bake with Butter Flavor Crisco rather than using butter because butter burns so easily. If you have ever burned cookies before they were done baking, butter may have been the culprit. One day I discovered that Butter Flavored Crisco is sold in sticks to make measuring for baking easier. As a bonus, they even include recipes with the packaging.
I have tried lots of different chocolate chip cookie recipes, but I have to state for the record that Crisco’s Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies recipe is my favorite.
My Dad has been ill for quite sometime. He often has a hard time finding things that he wants to eat. But Dad loves to eat sweets and has a particular fondness for chocolate. I have been baking him batch after batch of these cookies in an effort to fatten him up. He loves them. Every time I bring him a fresh batch of these cookies he declares, “these are the best cookies you ever made”.
You will find this to be an easy recipe to make. Once you make a batch, you are likely to fall in love with them as I have.
Ultimate Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1 ¼ Cups firmly packed Light Brown Sugar
¾ Cup Crisco Butter Flavored Shortening
2 Tablespoons Milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 Large Egg
1 ¾ Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
¾ Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (or ¾ Cup each of Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips and Mini Chocolate Chips. The Double comes from using the two different sized chips. I always use just 1 ½ cups of the regular size chips)
1 ½ cups of Chopped Walnuts or Pecans (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine Brown Sugar, Shortening, Milk and Vanilla in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat Egg into creamed mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine Flour, Salt and Baking soda. Whisk together to combine. Mix into the creamed Mixture until blended. Add in chocolate chips and chopped nuts.
Drop by rounded tablespoons (or use a cookie scoop) onto an UNGREASED cookie sheet. If you don’t already own a cookie scoop (it looks like a mini old fashioned ice cream scoop), get one. It was my brother-in-law Luke Boyd that introduced me to the idea of using a cookie scoop.
Here's the scoop (or I should say scoops)
Cookie scoops make baking cookies so much easier. When you use a scoop, your cookies will come out uniform in size. I also use a SILPAT (http://www.silpat.com/) on my cookie sheets. The SILPAT seems to ensure that the cookies bake without burning and nothing sticks to them.
Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes for soft cookies and about 11 to 13 minutes if you prefer crisp cookies. Cool cookies about 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing them to a wire rack or placing them on a sheet of foil to cool completely. I know most people like cookies hot out of the oven, but I prefer to eat mine after they have cooled. I think you can taste them better if the molten chocolate hasn't burned your tongue, but I am funny that way.
The recipe states that this will make about 3 dozen cookies, but I guess that number all depends on how big you make your cookies. Whether it is because I make my cookies larger in size, or that Jim so often seems to suffer from a burnt tongue, it seems as if I yield less than 36 cookies when I am finished baking. Tis a mystery to me I tell ya.
Now, I am no financial advisor, but for my money, even when “the chips are down”, making a batch of chocolate chip cookies is always seems like a great investment.
Even at an young age, I knew chocolate was right for me
To those who say, “Chocolate is not the Answer!” I say, that’s because they are merely asking the wrong question!!
I encourage you to make the investment and bake a batch of these Ultimate Double Chocolate Chip Cookies today. Once you've tried these, drop me a line to let me know how they turn out.
Until next time, to quote a line from an old movie, “Goodbye Mr. Chips”.
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