(makes four to five dozen)
Tom Burrows
Version 2.0
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup chopped pecans 2/3 cup shortening 2/3 cup softened butter (not melted!) 2 cups sugar (mixture of turbinado sugar and granulated organic sugar) 2 tsp. vanilla 2 eggs 3 cups flour 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking soda
Combine ingredients. Drop dough onto an ungreased(!) baking sheet—about a dozen per sheet, using a "medium" cookie dough scoop. Flatten each one slightly by hand.
Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven about 10-11 minutes. The bottom of each cookie should be lightly browned.
Store in an airtight plastic bag.
After removing cookies from a baking sheet, wash it thoroughly with soap and water before using it for the next group of cookies to be baked. If there is any grease on the baking sheet, the dough will flow onto it and burn during baking, collapsing the cookies.
Be careful dropping the dough onto the baking sheet and avoid moving the balls of dough around once they are on the sheet. If there is any grease on the sheet around a ball of dough, clean it off before baking.
Another factor that can cause cookies to collapse and burn during cooking is if the dough is too warm. Keep the dough somewhat below room temperature by putting it in the refrigerator for a few minutes now and then. Drop the dough onto the baking sheet just before putting it into the oven, so that the balls of dough don't warm up.
For 5000' altitude, I apply the following adjustments:
Replace the pecans with chopped macadamia nuts and the semi-sweet chocolate chips with white chocolate chips.