Perfectly chewy and crispy, all these cookies are missing is a tall glass of milk.

Jessica Webster | AnnArbor.com

When I was growing up, my mom kept all her recipes on handwritten 4x6-inch file cards in a plastic yellow filing box. They were organized by food type: appetizers, meat, vegetables, and so on. My favorite tab in the box was for desserts, and my favorite recipe within that category was my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I am not nearly as organized as my mother, but I make occasional attempts to catch up. During one of those attempts, I bought a recipe journal with the intention of writing in all my favorite recipes, organized by category.

The very first recipe I wanted in that journal was my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe. But after all those years of making that recipe from my mom's 4x6-inch recipe card, it seemed almost blasphemous to write it out in my own handwriting. My mom happily obliged, and wrote the recipe out for me.

So now, in my bookcase full of cookbooks and cooking magazines, I have a recipe journal with exactly three recipes in it: my mom's chocolate chip cookies, my grandmother's brownies and a crockpot carnitas recipe I found online. Not that I really need the recipe anymore... after decades of making these cookies, I can recite the ingredients from memory.

I know everyone has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that they love, and that you can just as easily buy those cookie dough tubes at the supermarket that you simply slice and bake. But I happen to think these are better than all of those. The combination of shortening and butter gives you the best in texture and flavor. They're melt-in-your-mouth crispy on the edges and just the right amount of chewy at the center.

My mom got this recipe from our across-the-street neighbor, Joy Buckley, close to 40 years ago. The recipe has always been labeled "Joy's Chocolate Chips," but at this point, I think it's safe to call it our family recipe.

Joy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/3 cup vegetable shortening


• 1/3 cup softened butter


• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 1 egg


• 1 teaspoon vanilla


• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips


• optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, shortening, brown and white sugars, egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, and then the chocolate chips and optional nuts.

4. Drop the dough by the rounded tablespoonful onto a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies start to turn golden-brown.

5. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then move to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Jessica Webster leads the Food section for AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at JessicaWebster@AnnArbor.com.