Chocolate Chip (Candy Cane) Cookies

Around the holidays, I take my chocolate chip cookie recipe and add crushed candy canes to it for a minty taste!  This is a standard chocolate chip recipe so you can make minor modifications to it such as using walnuts, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, or as my title suggests, candy canes!

Preheat oven to 375*
Baking time is 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Sugar
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar--packed
3/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar--packed
1 1/2 cups Crisco/Shortening--packed
2 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Water
4 Eggs
5 cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Salt

Chocolate Chips, PB Chips, Walnuts, Candy Canes, etc

1.) Preheat oven to 375*

1a.) If making Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies, mash up candy canes first and set aside.  This can be accomplished in a few ways.  a.) Double or Triple ziploc baggie and rolling pin or meat tenderizer  b.) small manual food chopper  c.)  Food Processor or Blender

I have used all 3 methods, and this time I used my Ninja blender.  This was far easier than the other 2 options!  However, it did make it into more of a dust instead of small pieces, but the cookies still came out great and it was no big deal!
 
2.) Mix together Flour, Baking Soda and Salt in large measuring cup; set aside
3.) Add all 3 sugars and Shortening to mixing bowl and start blending
4.) Add Vanilla, Water and Eggs and mix well

5.) Slowing add in Flour mixture until all gone
6.) Once dough is well mixed, stir in chips/nuts/candy canes and mix well

7.) Place 1" rolled balls of dough onto baking pans

8.) Bake for 4 minutes, then switch racks and bake another 4-5 minutes
9.) Move to cooling racks, once ready to store, place a piece of bread under a small piece of wax paper in the bottom of container, then fill with cookies.  The bread will keep the cookies from getting hard/stale.  You will notice that the bread will be rock hard after a few days.

ENJOY!