milk, please

When I was teaching, I tried to elicit good behavior through a system of awards. Kids could earn tickets, stickers, or points (depending on which year I was teaching) that they could then trade in for privileges or prizes. Basically, I bribed them.

By far, the most coveted prize was a batch of chocolate chip cookies. (I handed them out at the end of my class - let the next teacher deal with the sugar high!) I stumbled onto the recipe on the back of a Butter Flavor Crisco can and made just a couple tweaks. It's the best chocolate chip cookie I've had. Seriously.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

(makes about 4-5 dozen)

1 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup Butter Flavor Crisco
2 Tbs milk
1 Tbs vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine brown sugar, Crisco, milk, and vanilla, and mix well. Add the egg, and mix well again.

Add flour, salt, and baking soda, and (guess what?!) mix well.

Stir in the chocolate chips. (In the above picture, I used both semi-sweet and white chocolate chips, but normally, I use only semi-sweet chips.)

Use a spoon to scoop out portions of the cookie dough that are roughly 1 1/2 inch in diameter, and drop them on an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 8 minutes. (This is the perfect time for my oven to produce soft cookies - you may need to adjust the time by a minute or two.)

Remove cookies from the pan immediately, and cool on a cooling rack.

**If you don't want to make the entire batch, the cookie dough can be kept in the freezer. You can scoop right onto the cookie sheet and put the cold dough right into the oven.