The Cookie Buffet: Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies. Where would a cookie buffet be without them? Believe it or not, this was a new recipe. I normally make the good ol' standby Tollhouse recipe, which is yummy to be sure. But I didn't want to make the same old thing for the shower. I've been wanting to branch out and experiment with chocolate chip cookies that use both butter and shortening for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity. A little gumshoe detective work turned up this recipe from the lady herself, Paula Deen. It uses both butter and shortening, and three kinds of chocolate.

That's right. And nuts. Well, at least it did by the time I was done tweaking the recipe.

The stars of today's blog:

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 1/2 C vegetable shortening
• 1 C sugar
• 1 1/2 C packed light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 3/4 C AP flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1-12oz package semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 C milk chocolate chips
• 4-5oz (about half of an 11.5oz bag) bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 C chopped walnuts (or other nut of your choice)

Three kinds of chocolate! Nuff said.

1. Preheat the oven to 375F
2. Beat butter and shortening until creamy. Add both sugars and cream until fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla, beating well
4. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and blend. Slowely add to butter mixture and beat until just combined
5. Stir in chips and nuts.
   
6. Drop onto parchment-lined cookie sheets with a #60 scoop for 11.5-12 minutes until lightly browned
7. Cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet, then remove to rack to cool completely

Yield: 5 1/2 dozen

And ta da! Enough scrumptious chocolate chip cookies to fill multiple tins!

In all seriousness, these cookies are fabulous. I like them even better than Tollhouse, for bot texture and taste. Paula's original recipe calls for almond brickle chips and chopped bittersweet bars, which I'm sure would taste good, but I'll stick with walnuts and the ease of using bittersweet chips. The only other major adjustment I made was in the ratio of white to brown sugar, I bumped up the white sugar just a tad, reducing the brown sugar to compensate. This didn't affect the moisture of the cookies, but it did prevent them from being too sweet, which was the only complaint I read in reviews of the original recipe.