The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World

I love chocolate chip cookies. No, that’s not quite right. I adore chocolate chip cookies? I desire chocolate chip cookies? I crave chocolate chip cookies. I mean any of those phrases works…but they just really don’t put into words how I feel about a warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie that oozes melted chocolate onto your fingers while you’re enjoying it.

The best chocolate chip cookies are like the best cakes…they don’t require milk. (Though they are best enjoyed with some.) They’re slightly under baked and they have slightly crispy edges and soft and chewy centers. They are best eaten with small children or your best friend on hand for duel enjoyment.

That’s why it was so frustrating to spend the better part of my adult life without a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. I cannot count the number of times Hair and I have sat down or a TV marathon (Buffy, Angel, BSG…Firefly…take your pick, we’ve done them all) with a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk and proceeded to talk our way through the shows instead.

There’s just something cathartic about good cookies.

But for years, the perfect recipe eluded me…and I’m practical. If I can buy a version that tastes better than what I can make…I buy. So for most of our TV marathoning lives, Hair and I made do with store bought Nestle mini chocolate chip cookies. (Had to be mini, they taste better.) My fridge was rarely without them and I’d often get a text from her telling me she was on her way and to get some cookies into the oven.

Then, two or three years ago, I found it.

The one.

THE ONE. The cookie that beats all cookies. The cookie that makes peoples eyes go wide when they see it and that makes them ask “are you…um…bringing those chocolate chip cookies…um…to the party…um…please?” before events.

The one that I make at least twice a month because it’s so fast and so easy and I can always find someone to give the extras to. The one that Hair once begged me to stop making because she was putting on pounds.

If you’ve never run across this recipe before, (and chances are you have, it’s all over the web) you need to make them this weekend. (I’m serious…you need to. You will thank me. Honest.)

Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups salted butter, melted
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 egg
2 egg yolk
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
1 cups regular semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and spray your cookie sheets with Pam.

Melt your butter in the microwave until it’s soft but not fully melted. Then cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended and slightly creamy looking. Add the vanilla, egg and egg yolk and mix on medium for another minute or two. Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and stir until fully mixed.

Add the mini chips.

At this point, I stop the process and unload 6-8 heaping spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a lined tray to pop in the freezer. Once they are frozen, they go into a bag for Mr. W that stays in the freezer. Frozen cookie dough that’s light on the chocolate makes his top ten list of desserts, so I keep resupplying him.

Once that’s done, I pour in the rest of the chips.

The next step is key. Find yourself a 1/4 cup measuring cup and give it a light spray of Pam. Scoop up 1/4 size batches of dough and place these onto your sheets. Give them plenty of space. I can only fit about 5-6 cookies on a single tray. Pop them into the oven for 16-20 minutes, switching racks halfway through. If you don’t like your cookies doughy, you may need to add a few minutes. I like mine to stay very soft in the middle, so they never look done when I take them out

What you’ll get is a cookie the size of a man’s hand with fingers extended. These things are huge! But boy do they make an impression.

Besides, if you are only going to eat one cookie, it should be a big one…right?