Slice and Bake Cookies

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Maybe you're thinking, "if you're going to eat slice and bake cookies, why not just buy a tube at the grocery?" Well, this recipe is good for my family for a few reasons.

First, I control the ingredients, instead of Nestle or Pillsbury, or whoever. There are preservatives in every prepared food and if I can avoid them I do. Second, they are much less expensive made from scratch. And since my guys can eat an entire batch of these without blinking an eye, that's a good thing. And third, my Michael has life-threatening allergies to tree nuts and peanuts. And almost every baked good available at the grocery has an ingredient warning including at least one of those ingredients. I know that for the most part they are covering their behinds, but I can't take a chance. I don't know who's CYA-ing and whose product really is contaminated. So I make my own.

That said, these cookies are better than ready-made. And it took me less time to mix the dough and put it into rolls than it did for the oven to preheat (10 minutes). Actually it took seven minutes. So save some money and preservatives and put that preheat time to good use.

Slice and Bake Cookies

1 cup shortening
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 - ¼ cups flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 - ½ cup extras (chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, M&Ms, nuts, etc.)

In mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Combine flour, salt and soda;
add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
Fold in extras.
Shape into two 2-in. wide logs and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.
Chill for two hours or up to one week.
To bake, cut into slices and place 3 in. apart on ungreased sheet.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and remove to wire racks.

The easy way to form logs:

Place your plastic wrap or wax paper on a large flat surface.
I wipe my counter with a damp washcloth just the help the wrap stick while I roll the logs.


Place half the dough down the center of the wrap, lengthwise.

Bring one half of the wrap over the dough and smooth it down,
smoothing the dough underneath.

Bring the other half of the wrap over and
smooth the entire strip of dough into a log.

Refrigerate the logs until you are ready to bake, up to a week.

To bake, just slice the logs and place the pieces on baking sheets.

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