Grandma Frost's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'd be willing to bet this recipe came from a cookbook, but I don't care and I'm not going to try to find out since it's so much cooler to use my Grandma's recipe than a cookbook's. I don't recall using hot water in any other choc chip cookies I've made, so maybe not. It's my Grandma Frost's recipe, via my Mom.

Hint: Put butter out long in advance; the softer it is (but not melted) the easier it is to cream. By the way, this is a good time to note that I cream by hand. In fact, I do almost all my mixing by hand. We do not own a mixer, although we do have a hand mixer used about once a year (my husband Eric uses it sometimes), nor a food processor (though we have a mini electric chopper again used about once a year), nor a blender (except an immersion blender used way more than once a year for mixing ice cream and pesto). I've mixed everything by hand since I was a teenager and realized I could get a little bit of exercise, save electricity, and not spend all that much more time just using a bowl and a spoon.

We made them with raspberry chocolate chips my Mom (daughter of Grandma Frost) gave Maggie (my 5.5 year old daughter, who made these with me) last Christmas or so. So maybe I should call these 4 generation cookies? By the way, my Mom is the oldest daughter, I'm the oldest granddaughter, and Maggie is the oldest great-granddaughter. I think that is so cool!

Grandma Frost's Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c margarine but I always use butter
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp hot water
1 c chopped nuts (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
2 c or 12 oz chocolate chips or 4 sq sweet chocolate chipped the size of peas.
Variation: add 1 c peanut butter

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Mix in eggs.
3. Add in flour and baking soda. Grandma probably sifted these, but I usually don't bother. I just make sure the small dry ingredients aren't dumped in a lump.
4. Stir in water and vanilla.
5. Stir in nuts and chocolate.
6. Drop by teaspoons or tablespoons, or make giant cookies on greased sheet or Silpat.

350, ~15 minutes (the recipe has no time listed and this is the first time I wrote down the time), 3-5 dozen depending on how big you make them.

The recipe card has only one step listed: "Last of all, add [chocolate amounts]." But cookies follow a pretty typical set of instructions, which I wrote above.