Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you ever have one of those weeks where nothing seems to go your way? It's definitely been one of those weeks for me. Despite all the things that went wrong, let me tell you something good about life. Chocolate chip cookies. First of all, anything that starts with the word "chocolate" is amazing. It doesn't even matter what the phrase ends with...chocolate bar, chocolate chip, chocolate covered bacon, chocolate pretzel, chocolate cupcake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate lava cake, chocolate fountain, chocolate in my mouth. I think you got the point. That little exercise of coming up with chocolate goodies actually already helped my mood!

This is not one of those quinoa and celery stick recipes that you lose weight just reading about. This is a pick me up, I need chocolate goodness in the form of a cookie, I am hording all of these cookies to myself kind of treat. Maybe not that last one. I may have gone too far. Either way, I don't think you could be disappointed with these.

This recipe is actually from Travis' family and I think it was a requirement that I learn how to make these cookies before he married me. Just joking...kind of. At any rate, since baking and cooking are kind of like an obsession of mine I really didn't have any reason not to learn something new!

When I first made these cookies the ingredients kind of took me by surprise. If you couldn't tell I'm the kind of person who is into fresh and pure ingredients and the fact that there was shortening AND margarine was CraZY to me! In fact, I even tried to make this recipe substituting butter for some of the fat because I needed to try. Try as I might, the recipe stands. And it's a winner. So pardon my shortening and margarine but this recipe just needs to be shared with the world.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
prep time: 20 minutes, cook time: 10 minutes per batch
makes: approximately 3 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 1/2 tablespoons margarine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I used mini)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cream shortening, margarine, sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla with mixer.
3. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt until just combined.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Roll into 1 inch balls and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

NOTES

Before baking, I will sometimes slightly push the dough balls down (so they look like a hockey puck) so that they spread out more. You can also just leave them as balls and they turn out fine!

You can freeze the dough after forming it into 1 inch balls. Then when you need to make cookies, you have perfectly formed cookie dough balls! I've baked them straight from the freezer but it's probably best to let them defrost slightly before going in the oven.