Sweet Treat Tuesday- Ulitimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm starting a new series on This Mommy Cooks. It's called Sweet Treat Tuesday. I will try and post a new sweet recipe on every Tuesday. Enjoy!

I am one of those girls who after her kiddos go to bed, bakes 2 Nestle Tollhouse Ultimates Chocolate Chip Lovers cookies for herself and then pours a big glass of milk and sits and enjoys each and every bite. Sometimes I make 3 and give my hubby one. No kidding, I make them every night, until recently. Have any of you noticed that Nestle Tollhouse cookie dough is scarce these days? I have searched every store around here and can't find my beloved Nestle Tollhouse Ultimates Chocolate Chip Lovers cookie dough anywhere! I've actually been quite distressed over this. So, this week, I decided to actually try the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bags and see if it at all compared to my favorite cookie dough. I googled to see if there were any suggestions to change and found a couple, and made a couple of my own and came up with the recipe below. They tasted almost exactly the same as my favorite refrigerated cookie dough! One big problem though, I like to eat them warm, so would these babies freeze and then bake up just as good. Yes! I have two dozen frozen cookie balls of dough in my freezer and they bake just perfectly! At the bottom I'll have cooking instructions for the frozen cookies.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (yes I know, yuck, but it makes these great!)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup Nestle's Tollhouse semisweet chocolate morsels
1 cup Nestle's Tollhouse milk chocolate morsels
1/2 cup Nestle's Tollhouse Semisweet chocolate chunks, divided (this is important, these chunks are the best thing about these cookies!)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and mix. Beat the butter, shortening, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy.

Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter-eggs-and-sugar mixture and mix thoroughly.

Add the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of the chocolate chunks and mix well.

Drop rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, leaving a few inches between the drops. I used a cookie scoop, that made about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch balls. Press two chocolate chunks into the top of each ball.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, just until the edges are turning brown and the middle isn't fully set, and let cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

*Freezing Instructions- Refrigerate dough for 10-15 minutes to help the dough harden up a little. Scoop out small balls, rolling them with your hands into little balls and place them on wax or parchment paper in a Tupperware or air tight freezer safe container. Press 2 chocolate chunks into the top of each ball. Separate layers with another piece of wax or parchment paper, seal tightly and place in freezer. I would say they would probably be good for 3-4 months, but they won't last that long at my house! When ready to bake them, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake, frozen, for 11 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and serve with a tall glass of milk!