Greeny's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I will admit, this is similar to both the Hershey's and the Ghirardelli cookie recipes - the back of the chip bags are my best sources of inspiration. :) However, I live at high altitude, so I have changed it up a bit for that and for my family/our friends' tastes. I find that they never flatten (once out of the oven) and they stay chewy for several days. They also freeze well. My store-bought chocolate chip cookie-loving nephew even asked if I could make more of these once they had all been eaten. That was awesome. I have substituted Splenda for half of the granulated sugar portion, and it works well, but I think any more than that would compromise the texture too much.

• Ready In: 55 mins
• Serves: 21
• Yields: 3 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup butter, at room temperature (1 stick)
• 1⁄2 cup shortening
• 2⁄3 cup sugar
• 2⁄3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2  large eggs
• 2  teaspoons vanilla
• 1 (12 ounce) bag chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and shortening with sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Drop by tablespoon (I use a cookie scoop) onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 9-11 minutes (I bake for 10 to start, and as the last few sheets go in, I lessen it to 9 1/2 minutes. I would say if you're going to bake them for 9, let them cool for longer on the cookie sheet before removing them to the wire rack).
7. Cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container.
8. To make bar cookies, pat the dough down into a 9x13 pan, and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.