There aren’t many things that I’ve made more of than homemade chocolate chip cookies. We made them a lot with my mom growing up. I make them every month or so and we always make about 6 batches right before Christmas to have on hand for Christmas parties.

Once we found out our butcher will render the fatback into lard for us, I knew I had to try it in baked goods! I’ve tried a few recipes where lard was the only fat I used in the cookies, but my absolute favorite is a mixture of both lard and butter. The lard adds moistness and chewiness while the butter adds that richness I love in a cookie.