John's Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

This my husband's absolute favorite cookie.  He doesn't think any other cookies are nearly as good as these chewy, crisp cookies.  I tried several oatmeal cooky recipes from my cookbooks when we first got married and he requested oatmeal cookies.  When I finally simply made the one on the box, he said "this is it".  I've been making them for 44 years now.  You can tell by how yellowed my recipe card is.  Why mess with a good thing?
This is not the recipe on the Quaker website - apparently theirs has changed over the years.

Famous Oatmeal Cookies

1 Cup Shortening -- 7 ounces

1/2 Cup Butter -- 1 stick
1 Cup Sugar -- 7 ounces
2 Cups Brown Sugar -- 1 pound
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Water
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Flour, All-purpose -- 10 ounces
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
6 Cups Oats -- 18 ounces
1 -2 Cups Chocolate Chips -- or raisins
• Cream together shortening, butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, water and vanilla extract until light.
• Mix together the flour, soda and salt. Beat into creamed mixture.
• Stir oats in by hand or with a large mixer.
• Stir in chocolate chips or raisins.
• Drop on ungreased cookie sheet.  (I use a size 60 scoop.)  Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes. Let them rest on the sheet a minute or two before cooling on a rack.
This recipe is a good one to freeze. I drop them close together on waxed paper on a half sheet pan and freeze them till they are solid. Then I roll up the wax paper, cookies and all, and put it in a freezer bag. Mark the bag with baking time and temp. I bake them right from the freezer, usually for 15 minutes.
Yield: "5 Dozen"