Chocolate Chip Cookies

A while back I was getting bored with my old standby chocolate chip cookie recipe. It just seemed so boring. While poking around the interwebs I found this gem of an article from the New York Times, provocatively called Perfection? Hint: It's Warm and Has A Secret. I will be the first to admit that it's a little ridiculous (bittersweet chocolate feves? Yeah, I'll just get regular chips, thanks) and you do get the very intense and exact measuring (1 cup minus two tablespoons) and it's not like you're always planning cookies in advance (24 hours of chilling? come on!), but. BUT. These are seriously, above-and-beyond, mind-blowingly tasty cookies. The only problem I have is that I tend to overcook them just a bit, which is fine when they're right out of the oven and gooey, but not so good when you're trying to chomp on one the next day and it's like a Frisbee. The originally recipe called for cake flour and bread flour, which I choose to ignore. Cake flour creates a lighter crumb, bread flour a heavier crumb, so in equal parts they make all-purpose flour. The only real key to this recipe is simple: chill the batter for at least 24 hours. Trust me, it's worth it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Originally published in the New York Times, 9 July 2008)

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons
• 2 1/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• Chocolate Chips 
• Sea salt.

Whisk the flour, the baking soda and powder, and the salt.

In another bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and white sugar together until they are light, fluffy and smooth. Add the eggs one by one, then the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix the flour in in two parts, making sure not to over-mix. Add the chocolate chips, cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for at least 24 hours. I know you want to make them now, but resist that urge.

After you've waited the full 24 hours (I know it's hard, but do it anyway) preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Form roughly golf-ball sized spheres of dough without touching them too much (you want them to still be cold when they get in the oven) and sprinkle a touch of sea salt on the top. Bake them in the oven for 18-20 minutes (feel this out on your own, it might take a couple tries to get the perfect time) and cool them for as long as you can stand. If you make it three seconds I will be impressed.

Step 3: DIG IN.