NANA'S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I am so excited! I have found my go-to recipe for making some chocolate chip cookies that are sugar-free to have in the cookie jar for us to enjoy at home. That's exciting news for us since we both love having something in the cookie jar to grab when we walk by it. Well, not every time we walk by, but you know what I mean.

I have always had an option for the Cafe Treats at church of a sugar-free goodie for those people who are diabetic or just watching their sugar intake. My goal has always been to meet the needs of everyone which is why the Cafe Treats is a "no-nut" safe space. So many people don't think about the fact that so many people have allergies to nuts of various kinds and I admit until I had grandchildren with issues eating peanuts, I probably didn't give it much thought either.

When I say I want everyone to be welcomed at the Cafe Treats, I did have a friend recently who asked me if I had a gluten-free option and I had to admit I didn't. This was not someone at church who was asking this. The church does offer a gluten-free choice for communion but it is a purchased item. I guess I need to find a recipe that I could make using gluten-free options for the flour and make it and see how they go over. Actually I have made one or two recipes that I used gluten-free oats so I just need to search them out. I'll start here on the search option that is available on the web-version of the blog.

Anyway, I digress. Most of the time when I am making something with no-sugar-added, sugar-free, or zero-sugar -- there are so many names for it now, I take a regular recipe and just substitute stevia for the sugar. No-sugar-added will usually mean the recipe has some fruit in it, but it has no sugar added to the fruit. You do have to be careful if you are using dried fruit because many of them have added sugar. So read the package carefully. The "world" seems to be going away from saying "sugar-free" or "diet" and saying "zero-sugar" for drinks and packaged ingredients and foods, so that creates even more labels. 

Stevia and other sugar substitutes can be more expensive so when I am looking at a recipe to make sugar-free, I search for ones that don't call for a lot of sugar or brown sugar in them. I buy Zero-sugar chocolate chips and use them for the Cafe Treats, but if you check the label on packages of dark cacao chips, they only have 5 or 6 grams of sugar per tablespoon. (When we were following Sugar-Busters, 5 g / serving was the key amount of sugar could enjoy.) So to save a little money, I will just use my dark cacao chips in treats for us.

Today's recipe called Nana's Chocolate Chips Cookies was shared by Diane Ernst in Naperville's Family Recipes cookbook from 2006 called Tasteful Traditions that I found at - where else? - an estate sale. Naperville is a city in Illinois. In the front of the cookbook is an extensive history that was really interesting to read. Joe Naper settled there way back in 1831. The Recipe Note at the end said " Nana Ernst, my Canadian mother-in-law, used to make these cookies after school for my husband and his siblings. She passed along the recipe, and I made them for my daughters when they came home from school. We still love the cookies because some traditions are delicious at any age."

A number of men expressed to me how delicious the cookies were even being sugar-free. One was a little skeptic about the taste when I told him they were sugar-free even though he admitted he was diabetic and his wife made him eat sugar-free stuff all the time. He took one bite and declared them to be "Very good". 

The recipe only makes about 2.5 dozen cookies which is just right for me to make and have in our cookie jar, so depending on your "crowd", you might find yourself making the recipe often. I'm thinking about adding some unsweetened coconut the next time. 

An added excitement for me was using my latest purchase of a cookie sheet that fits the rack in the oven. I baked 2 dozen cookie at once. Talk about speeding up my time in the kitchen. (The dimensions for the "sheet" are 20.5" X 13.25" X 1" and it only cost me $1 and it's brand new.)

NANA'S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1/2     cup shortening

1/2     cup brown sugar

1/2     cup white sugar

1/2     teaspoon vanilla

1        egg

1        tablespoon water

1        cup flour

1/2     teaspoon baking soda

1/2     teaspoon salt

1        cup quick - cooking rolled oats

1/2     package  chocolate chips, small size bag

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease or spray cookie sheets. Set aside.

Cream the sugars and shortening until well mixed.

(I ran the mixer for several minutes. I also scrape the sides of the bowl often when I am using my mixer.)

Add the vanilla, egg, and water and stir together.

(I "stirred" with the mixer.) 

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Add to the sugar mixture.

Stir in the oats and chips.

(I used just a spatula for the latter.) 

Drop onto the baking sheet. (I used my tablespoon sized cookie scoop and

then flattened the "scoop" with my fingers about half-way.)

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

(I baked mine the full 12 minutes and left the cookies on the cookie sheet about two minutes before

removing them to the wire racks.)

After I finished reading a really good book,

I made these for us and added a half cup of unsweetened coconut.

I made 2 cookies short of 3 dozen and loved the addition of the coconut, but we love coconut. If you don't, you wouldn't be interested in this little tidbit. 😉