Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I can't make my first impression with only one kind of cookie, so I also asked my mother for her chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have never had another chocolate chip cookie with this exact taste, and want to impress my new co-workers (see last post, below).

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (I used a little less)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat shortening and butter for 30 seconds on medium to high speed. Add brown and granulated sugar, baking soda and salt and beat until combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much as the flour as you can with the mixer, and stir in the rest with a wooden spoon. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden on top.

These cookies are fantastic. You can taste the brown sugar in the dough and the dark chocolate chips add extra decadence.

You might find it corny or just plain pathetic that I am going to such lengths to make friends at work. This is a good time for a story.

My brother is the Media Relations Director for a professional basketball team. About 10 years ago, his team played in the city where my mother lives, and she went to the game with bags laden with tins of cookies. At some point during the game, she sent the cookies back for the staff, the team and the coaches. I thought my brother would die of embarrassment, but if he did, he never told me about it. The next day, everyone knew the "new guy's" name, thanks to "Jon's mom". It has become a tradition, and each year my mother shows up at that game with cookies in hand. They love her cookies. They look forward to that game because they know cookies are coming. It worked for him, and I hope it works for me...and the eggs.