Tex's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

That Yank may be known for her yummy chocolate chip cookies (you can find that recipe here), but around these parts, I'm the queen of chocolate chip cookies. So, at the risk of stepping all over Ruthy's toes, I've decided to share my knock-out chocolate chip cookie recipe. Some of it is similar to Ruthy's, but, like her, I have a few twists of my own.

You're gonna need:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar (if you don't have dark brown, regular brown sugar will taste fine too)
• 3/4 granulated white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (for me, it tends to be a heaping teaspoon)
• 2 1/4 cups flour (like Ruthy, I prefer the Better for Bread variety, but all-purpose works great)
• 4 tablespoons ground flax seed (you can use more, or less, if you like)
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Cream together your butter and shortening.

 

Now add your sugars and beat until light and fluffy. This is not light and fluffy. Yet.

 

Now add your eggs, one at a time, and mix until well blended before adding your dry ingredients. While that's mixing away, I want to talk about cinnamon. I love cinnamon in my chocolate chip cookies. However, my tastes are evolving. I started using  plain old cinnamon. Then I learned about roasted Saigon cinnamon. That stuff is worth writing home about. Just do a sniff test between the regular cinnamon and the roasted cinnamon and you'll smell the difference. Then my SIL turned me on to this company called Penzey's Spices (http://www.penzeys.com/). They have this fancy Vietnamese cinnamon that is to die for. And their prices are very reasonable. Cheaper than what I paid for the McCormick roasted cinnamon.  I suggest going in with some other folks who like to bake to hit that $30 level so you can get free shipping.

 

Okay, I'll step off of my cinnamon soap box now and finish these cookies.

 

Now I add my secret ingredient. The one my kids know nothing about, but is so good for them.

Flax seed. It adds a nice nutty flavor/crunch and they never even notice it.

 

Stir in your chocolate chips.

Scoop (or drop by tablespoons) onto a cookie sheet .



 

And bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Notice there are a few empty spaces. Who can resist warm cookies? No one in my house. 

 

I like my cookies soft and chewy, not crisp and crunchy, which is why I use half butter/half shortening. However, if you happen to like yours crunchy, then by all means, skip the shortening and use all butter.

 

Cookie break, anyone?