perfect chocolate chip cookies

My all time favorite dessert is chocolate chip cookies. I think perfectly made chocolate chip cookies are one of the best things on earth, actually. I probably make these more than I should, but we always have company at our house, neighbors to thank, friends who need a little treat, and there are always hungry kids around, so the cookies don't last long.

I think most bakers have a chocolate cookie recipe they refer to, and this is mine. There are definitely more complicated, overnight-chilled, more-ingredient recipes I use, but this is my standard. It's a go-to for me, and I think it's perfect.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
flaky sea salt


Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix softened butter with brown sugar. Add white sugar, and mix these until fully combined. Add eggs one at a time, and incorporate until fully combined. Add vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture to the wet ingredients, folding it in until just combined. Don't over mix! Add the entire bag of chocolate chips because YOLO.

Bake by rounded tablespoon-ful at 375 degrees for exactly 10 minutes. (This is how long I leave them in my oven. You may need to adjust a little depending on how hot your oven gets. Trial and error!) The cookies might look a little underdone. Sprinkle with a bit of flaky sea salt.

Let them cool, and they will be perfectly soft, gooey, and chocolatey. This recipe should yield around 4 dozen cookies. I make them a little bit small, so I can eat more of them obviously!

Today I split the dough in half before adding the chocolate chips. One half I made the usual way, and to the other half of the dough I added 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and about 1 cup of white chocolate chips. YUM. The possibilities are endless with cookies. That must be why I love them so much.