Extra-Special Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Bat says this recipe is a variation on one she found on a bag of chocolate chips, but it wasn't the Toll House recipe.  I don't rightly know… sometimes she likes pulling my poor, twisted and abused leg.  But any way you look at it, most recipes you find on bags of chocolate chips don't make a whopping 5 dozen heaping-tablespoons-of-dough cookies.  They seem to think the average American family will never have teen-aged boys, so they provide you with enough dough to make a couple dozen "modest" cookies.  You know, the kind that pass as a single serving when you ask official dietitians. When you ask mothers, though, a serving is whatever size will fill a young mouth so no sass can come out of it for the moment.

So, my mother made these cookies.  Or, rather, she made the dough and some cookies. We lived dangerously, back then, and nobody died from raw dough in the digestive tract. If, on the other hand, you worry about that sort of thing, feel free to make a substitution of pasteurized liquid egg white where the recipe calls for eggs.  Or, live life for the moment.

Either way, bake yourself a batch of the best chocolate chip cookies I ever had.  In theory, the recipe makes 5 dozen MONSTER cookies.  In our reckless house, I've never seen the dough left alone long enough to get the whole thing into the oven, but maybe you'll have some luck with that.

Extra-Special Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups shortening* (do NOT use cooking oil)
2 cups brown sugar
2  cups granulated sugar
6 large or jumbo eggs
2 Tablespoons vanilla
2 teaspoons salt

7 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda

5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or Heath Bits O'Brickle
3 cups coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375º F.

With mixer, cream shortening and sugar until very fluffy (about 5 minutes).  Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly. Add vanilla and salt.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and soda. Add to creamed mixture and stir until completely mixed.

Add in chips and nuts.

Drop by heaping TABLESPOONS onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 12-15 minutes, or until beginning to turn golden-brown on top.

[This dough may be formed into balls or tubes and frozen for up to five months.]


*Mom uses butter, & leaves them slightly undercooked by setting the oven at 350º F, to make soft, gooey, extra-tasty cookies.