• Bring the butter to room temperature, then beat together with shortening/oil and sugars until light and fluffy – several minutes. Add in the vanilla extract (if baking from scratch) and eggs/substitute until combined.
• If baking from scratch, whisk together dry ingredients in another bowl.
• Gradually stir whisked dry ingredients (or dry mix) into the creamed sugar mixture. Add chips and nuts, if desired.
• For best results, scoop dough into a container (metal, if possible) and cover tightly. Refrigerate or freeze until very cold.

To bake as chocolate chip cookies ...

• Preheat oven to 350° F (static) or 325° F (convection).
• Drop by measured tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, at least 1 inch apart. Press down on dough balls to flatten at least slightly before baking.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned. Let them stand 5 minutes before removing them to cooling racks.
• Makes approximately 45 cookies.

To bake as chocolate chip cookie bars ...

• Preheat oven to 375°F (static) or 350° F (convection).
• There is no need to refrigerate the dough before baking as bars, but feel free to refrigerate before baking, if you like.
• Spread the chocolate chip cookie dough into an oiled or parchment-lined pan. If you’ve already baked out a batch of cookies, you will probably only have enough dough left for an 8×8 pan, but you could use a jelly roll pan or 9×13 if you have a full batch of dough.
• Spread evenly and bake for about 20 minutes. Remember, just like baking cookies, take these out of the oven just BEFORE they look totally done. They’ll keep baking a bit longer when you remove them, and this way they’ll still be nice & chewy in the middles.