Dad's Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are a classic American drop cookie with one important quirk: the fat is all vegetable shortening and the sugar is all light brown. That combination gives you a higher, puffier cookie than the butter-and-white-sugar version, with a chewy interior that stays soft on day three (shortening has no water content, so it does not deflate the dough as it bakes).

The dough is light on flour and heavy on chips, so portion carefully (a rounded measuring tablespoon, three inches apart) or they will run together on the sheet.

Watch the bake time like a hawk. The visual cue from the directions matters: pull them at 8 to 10 minutes if you want chewy, when the tops still look light and a touch underdone in the center. Carryover cooking on the hot sheet finishes the job.

A two-minute rest on the pan before moving to a rack is the difference between a cookie that holds together and one that breaks in half.

Pro Tips

• Use light brown sugar packed firmly into the cup. Loose brown sugar throws off the moisture balance and gives flatter cookies.
• Toast the pecans for 6 to 8 minutes at 350°F (175°C) before chopping. Raw pecans taste pale next to the brown sugar dough.
• Rotate the sheet halfway through baking, the back of most home ovens runs hotter and you will get uneven browning otherwise.
• Store cooled cookies in a sealed container with a slice of bread tucked in, the cookies pull moisture from the bread and stay chewy for a full week.

Variations

• Swap the pecans for walnuts or omit nuts entirely for a classic plain version.
• Use half semi-sweet and half dark chocolate chips for a deeper, less sweet bite.
• Sprinkle flaky sea salt on each portioned mound before baking for a salted-caramel twist.