Today's Lesson in Cooking: Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies From Crisco, per Vicki D.

Needed ingredients:

3/4 cup (3/4 stick) Crisco Shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 Tbs milk
1 Tbs vanilla

1 egg
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)*

Heat oven to 375. Place sheets of foil on counter top for cooling cookies.

Combine Crisco, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at med speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat egg into creamed mixture. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into creamed mix just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

Drop rounded tbs of dough 3'' apart onto un-greased baking sheet. Bake on baking sheet at 375 for 8-10 min for chewy cookies, 11-13 for crisp. DO NOT OVER BAKE. Cool 2 min on baking sheet, remove cookies to foil to cool completely. Makes 3 dzn.

This smells unbelievable in case your curious.

In the city, where I was raised, if you wanted cookies, you bought cookies. If you just HAD to bake cookies, you bought a package of pre-made cookie dough, prepped the oven and dropped them on a pan. Poof, cookies. The excess was stored in the fridge for those midnight sneaked spoonfuls in response to a break-up with a boyfriend. There has never been any such thing as "homemade" cookies for me.

Now, I live in the country:
Since moving here, I have been told that there is life without Crisco. Where ever it says Crisco, you can use butter, I've been told. Now I was raised on Crisco in cases of baking. Not butter. Somehow, in my mixed up head, I have associated Crisco with city: butter with country. Well, I live in the country now, any questions ask the cows outside of my window.

So for this "needs improvement" episode, I didn't quite follow the directions: I used butter because I'm in the country. Yes, that really is my reasoning.

I also decided after several scrapings of pans, to lightly grease the cookie sheet. AND I used dark brown sugar, because that is what I had.

It felt good. I used a wooden spoon and sprinkled the flour in little by little. I mixed and could feeeeeelllll the Luvvvv. That's my favorite part of homemade.

I dropped the cookie dough on the pan at 375 for 8-10 minutes only to pull out.....not cookies. The dough is cooked, but they looked like splats of cookies instead of cookies. Splats are wide messes that look a bit like pancakes, but with that cookie-esk-ness. I scoop the mess off the sheet into a bowl. (Which by the way, scooped onto a plate, about the size a cookie might be, with a small scoop of ice cream is great!)

Hmmm...must be the non-Crisco. So I add the Crisco to the rest of the batch. The batch changes color to something I recognize as the cookie dough from the cans! Woohoo. I'm in business. I drop the cookie dough on the pan at 375 for 8-10 minutes....

Splat. AHA!! I still have he grease on the pan, it must be making the dough run all over the place. So I clean the pan thoroughly, drop the dough and go. 8-10 minutes later.....

Splat.

I don't know what Crisco's got that butter doesn't, but I'm guessing it is a special ingrediant called: anti-splatter batter.