Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Cookies seem to make life sweeter. These cookies seem especially comforting; oatmeal, sugar and chocolate.  I do not usually use shortening in my cooking, I tend to prefer butter or olive oil, but when it comes to cookies, I think shortening, such as Crisco, is one of the best ingredients. The first time I used Crisco was in my grandmother's kitchen when I was about 5 years old. I did not help much with the baking, but I certainly remember the cookie dough (bababas as we call them in my family) and the warm fresh chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven. I feel that Crisco leads to a soft and fluffy cookie, rather than an often flat and crispy cookie that I often end up with when I use butter. I tend to use either butter or Crisco (shortening) depending upon if I want a crispy (butter) or fluffy (shortening/Crisco) cookie. Tonight, I wanted fluffy and comforting, thus my chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Ingredients:
3/4 stick of butter flavor shortening stick (I used Crisco)
1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup of milk (I used skim milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
3 cup of old fashioned rolled oats (not instant oats)
1 to 2 cups of chocolate chips (my family never thinks there are enough chocolate chips!)

Steps:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream the butter, brown sugar, egg, milk and vanilla together in your standing mixer.

3. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and old fashioned rolled oats in a separate bowl.

4. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir the chocolate chips in by hand so that they do not break apart. I add a lot of chocolate chips as my family can never have enough chocolate. Feel free to add raisins, cranberries, or nuts.

6. I put my cookie dough in the fridge at this point, as I think that after the dough has chilled for a bit, the cookies hold up in the oven a bit better, making for fluffier and lighter cookies. Tonight I made the dough at about 5 and then we went to dinner, and then came back home and made the cookies for a fresh dessert. So, generally just chill the dough for about and hour or two.

7. Form the cookie dough into small balls and space out onto a cookie sheet.

8. Bake for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees. I like to take my cookies out before they are fully finished, as they continue to cook after you take them out of the oven.

 9. Enjoy with a tall, cold glass of milk!