Betty's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is still one of the best!

From the Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1969/1978 edition, page 266. I like these because the recipe calls for half shortening/half butter-and you can use Smart Balance for the shortening, there's not as much sugar as other choc chip recipes, and they remove easily and intact from the cookie sheet. You can also use whole wheat flower (Betty, so trendy even back then!) The cookie is not too hard, not too chewy and holds its shape well for eating and dunking in milk. And just in time, there's even a seasonal variation - you can add 1/3 cup of crushed peppermint candies to the ingredients.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1/2 cup sugar...1/2 cup packed brown sugar...1/3 cup shortening...1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened...1 egg...1 teaspoon vanilla...1 1/2 cups all purpose flour or whole wheat flour...1/2 teaspoon baking soda...1/2 teaspoon salt...1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)...1 6 oz package semisweet chocolate chips (or for those of us who buy by the gross, add enough "until it looks good"!)

Heat oven to 350. Mix sugars, butter, shortening, egg and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfls about 2" apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake untl light brown, 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen. (Original instructions called for the oven to be 375, but I found they browned and burned a little too easily and quickly at that temperature, so I've been baking them at 350 ever since.)