Need a recipe for go-to chocolate chip cookies? I’ve got just the thing. I’ve been making this recipe since I was six or seven, and it always delights. Indeed, more people have asked me for this recipe than any other.
I can still picture the index card it was written on, in Carolyn Clark’s neat red cursive. Carolyn Clark, mom to my Aunt Mary Jo, must have shared the recipe with my mom at some point. The index card found its way into the beloved plastic bag of family favorites and at some point got wet enough that the writing became illegible.
Fortunately, this was also the first recipe I committed to memory. Well before the words got blurred. I can pretty much make them in my sleep.
Go-To Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups AP flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 cups rolled oats (optional)
Directions
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, cream together the sugars and shortening until fully incorporated.
- Add in the eggs one at a time.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the sugar and eggs and mix until incorporated. Add the remaining flour mixture.
- After all the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated, add the vanilla, chocolate chips, and oatmeal, if using.
- Using clean, slightly moist handle or two spoons, form the dough into balls.
- Bake cookies for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. (I rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking to ensure even cooking.
- Remove cookies from sheet trays to cooling racks and allow to cool completely.
- Watch them disappear.
