Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, excluding the sugar.

Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed in a mixer with the paddle attachment. You know it’s ready when it’s pale and fluffy! Turn the speed down, and mix in the shortening. When that is incorporated, mix in the egg and vanilla and let everything get nice and creamy.

Bring the speed to its lowest setting and slowly add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix just until everything is combined. I actually stop a little early and finish the job with a rubber spatula.

Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and flatten them out a little. At this point, I freeze them on a baking tray and when they are hard, I stick them in a baggie to bake off any time I want a cookie.

If you want to bake them fresh, put your dough balls onto a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 6-8 minutes. Keep an eye on them as the sugar content is high and they can easily burn.

From frozen, place the desired amount of cookies on a baking sheet and cook for 10-12 minutes.

Note that it took me a few tries to figure out how long to bake these in my oven. I will say that undercooked, these are still DELICIOUS and sinfully chewy. They are marvelous when just right, though!

I think these would make the most scrumptious ice cream sandwiches, or just paired with vanilla ice cream. They are rich and yummy! Enjoy!