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Recently, I too was in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I combined a recipe from allrecipes and Tates cookbook( also known as Kathleens, who made the best cookies ever!) The taste was amazing, but the recipe didn't say to flatten out the cookie before baking, and I think this would have improved the shape. I am going to try the two recipes you have recommended , and we'll see who is the champ!!!!!

let us know!

roboppy: If you want breakfast cookies, try Cooks Illustrated oatmeal raisin( I sub dried cranberries). They are easy and delicious.

Here's another recipe courtesy of my friend Nancy Silverton. It's in the book she and her ex-husband wrote together, The Foods of Campanile. I've never made them, but I've eaten about a hundred of them at the restaurant and the adjoining bakery.

8 ounces chocolate, coarsely chopped (Valrhona is best)
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

Chill chocolate in refrigerator 2 to 3 hours.

Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder into a bowl and mix well.

Using paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat unsalted butter in a mixing bowl at medium speed 3 to 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add granulated and brown sugar. Beat until blended.

Whisk egg and vanilla in a bowl until blended. Add egg mixture to creamed mixture and beat until blended, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Add 1/2 of flour mixture and beat until blended. Add remaining flour mixture and beat just until combined. Beat in walnuts and chocolate. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, 2 hours or until firm.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and arrange ball 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Press each ball lightly with palm of your hand.

Bake in preheated 325 degree F oven 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies have risen and cracked; do not overbake. Cool on cookie sheet 2 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen cookies.

Wow! Just when I thought I had the perfect recipe after years of experimenting, now I have to try all the ones listed above! Great post!

I actually like my chocolate chip cookies thin, but chewy - not crisp - which can be hard to achieve. An essential guide for me was in Shirley O. Corriher's "CookWise", where she breaks down the typical ingredients that go into cookies and what their purpose is. Then she takes a basic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and modifies it three ways: if you like your cookies thinner, puffier or in-between. It is brilliant and I always consult this chapter before trying any new cookie recipe.

One similarity I noticed in the allrecipes and Meg's recipes was instead of two eggs, one whole egg and one yolk were added. I haven't tried this before. I *think* the purpose of this (if I have interpreted Shirley's advice correctly) is that the liquid in the extra egg white would cause the cookies to spread more in the oven, so if you're going for a puffier cookie you would just use the yolk. Maybe that's why the recipe I've been using with two whole eggs works to achieve just the texture I like. Maybe the SE team can comment on this?

i think it's time that meg goes metric.
Better yet, we should have all recipes in just metric.

Woot--baked them, botched them (ran out of brown sugar and had to substitute white sugar with molasses), overbaked them a couple of minutes, but still loved them through and through! Even though I overbaked them a bit, they still had a decent chew in the middle, and the edges ... and a lot of the middle ... and the top ... were crispy, but very tasty! Plus they were huuuuuge! And that's always nice to see. ;D

The measurements in Meg's recipe do not exist, why would you even bother to print it?!!! I would call it more than garbage!

Hi-I tried Nancy Silverton's recipe and have come to the conclusion that the best choc chip cookies are made only with brown sugar. Ones with white sugar or a combination just don't get that browned look. So, I offer up my recipe which is so old, I don't remember where it came from.

2 1/4 cup triple sifted flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp water
1 egg
3 cups chocolate chips

Combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and water and beat until fluffy. Mix in the egg. Sift dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Line cookies sheets with foil shiny side up. Drop dough onto cookie sheets by the tablespoon. Bake at 375 for 10-12 mins or until browned. Cool for a few minutes on the sheets before removing to cooling rack.

Enjoy-the dough is great even unbaked!!! I also sometimes drop them on cookie sheets, freeze them and put them in bags in the freezer.

Hello Again Guys

I've been asked by a couple of you to just post the recipe here, as opposed to you going to my blog. Perhaps you don'l like the background colors, or more than likely, the fact that my blog looks like it needs watering badly. It does, but like I said.......it's work in progress. So for those of you who have asked.......here it is.......

Cookie Doctor's" Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup (2-4 oz. sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar Packed Tightly
2 Eggs at room temperature
1/4 Teaspoon Orange Zest
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Teaspoon Orange Extract
2-1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
4 Teaspoons Cinnamon
3 Cups Chocolate Chips (Ghiradelli or equivalent)
Preparation

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, cream together the sugars and the butter. Mix in eggs (one at a time) and incorporate thoroughy. Add the zest and the two extracts. Scrape down sides of the bowl, mix well and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Combine 1/2 of the dry mixture with the butter mixture and mix thoroughly. Repeat with the remaining half of the dry ingredients. Scrape down sides and mix again to thoroughly incorporate. Stir in the chocolate chips and mix well. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours till very firm and ingredients have a chance to ripen.

Preheat oven (convection) to 350. Place scoop (2-3 large tablespoons) of dough on baking sheet and space 3 inches apart. Flatten cookies with the palm of your hand and shape into rounds. Bake for 12 minutes, or until brown around the edges. Cool on baking sheet 2-3 minutes and then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

ENJOY

I completely forgot about these--they were one of the first recipes I made for my site! We used them for ice cream sandwiches and they were awesome. One thing I would love to do in the future is try them smaller and see if they're still as charming. Yes, I know, moderation: how boring.

Meg's Extremely Precise made my eyes roll back in my head. I'm too old to learn this. Please, pretty precise and easy to understand is all I can handle.

I have to start baking and tasting. Wow, these all sound so delicious. Truthfully, is there anything better than a chocolate chip cookie? Ok, I hear you, but I'm talking about sweets here!!! ;-D

Alton Brown's the Chewy. Best. Cookies. Ever.

The breakfast cookie sounds great, but instead of cranberries, I'd do dried cherries. Cherries & chocolate? Wow!

I have my own recipe, devised to have my favorite aspects of chocolate chip cookies: a little chew, a little crunch, and just enough chocolate.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't want to try every recipe I come across just in case they're better. I suspect everyone has a touch of the grass-is-greener mentality when it comes to cookies.

I think the best is the Nieman Marcus recipe that circulates around sometimes---with the ground up oatmeal & chopped milk chocolate in addition to the semi sweet chips, brown sugar, etc. Scoop onto lightly sprayed pans, wet fingers & mash down slightly. If baked right they are the quinticential perfect crunchy around the outside, softer/slightly chewy in the middle.

I made them this weekend, and they were amazing! Great with milk and probably awesome with ice cream. My only complaint is that they are dangerously addictive (I ate 4 in one day), but that speaks more about my self-control than the cookies themselves.