Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here's our family's favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's a particular favorite of Jeff's and he decided he wanted some this afternoon. So, he made a double batch.


Chocolate Chip Cookies

½ cup margarine or butter
½ cup shortening
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1-2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts and/or M&M's, optional

Cream butter and shortening with sugars.

Stir in vanilla and eggs. Combine and add dry ingredients.

Mix in chocolate chips and optional nuts.

Drop by spoonfuls on lightly greased cookie sheet. (Now we use a silicone mat.)

Bake at 350° for 9 minutes.


Listen for the timer to go off! Let sit on the cookie sheet for just a minute, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling. Store them in a covered container before Dad comes home.



This is just the basic Nestle's Tollhouse cookie recipe. However, when we moved to Florida we discovered it needed some adjusting. My best guess is the humidity gives the flour a higher moisture content, so we had to add more. Normally we have extra-large eggs, but today we used regular large ones. So, we didn't need quite as much flour. Also, a couple of years ago the formulation of our regular margarine changed and ruined our cookies. We did some experimenting - with real butter, 3 types of margarine, and butter-flavor Crisco. The butter-flavor Crisco won the taste test, so that's what we use now, along with regular Crisco. We like puffy cookies, not flat ones.

For "giant" cookies (the 1/4 cup scoop -  our regular scoop is a 1 tablespoon size), bake for 13 minutes. A single batch will make about 18, and a double batch about 3 dozen.