The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes, I get really carried away with cravings for specific foods.  Prime example: chocolate chip cookies.  Who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies?  And I know that everyone always talks about the "best" chocolate chip cookie, whether it best the New York Time's best chocolate chip cookie recipe, of the "world's best" chocolate chip cookie recipe, or maybe some famous chef's version of the best chocolate chip cookie recipe.  But for me, this one is it.
It's taken some tweaking and some little edits here and there, but this is now my constant go-to recipe, my version of "the best chocolate chip cookies."

A lot of the measurements are by weight, and seriously if you don't have a digital scale, stop reading this sentence right now and go get one.  Okay, are we all good?  Because digital scales will change the way you bake.  First of all, measuring your ingredients by weight is far more accurate and allows for more precision in baking.  One hundred grams of flour will always be one hundred grams.  But one cup of flour on one day might be more than the next day, depending on how well sifted the flour is.  So please, use a digital scale.  Also, less things to wash!  Just place a bowl on your scale, zero it, add one ingredient, zero it, add your next ingredient, and so one.  Easy peasy.

Now about the actual recipe: it has molasses and brown sugar which makes it chewy, it has just enough depth from whole wheat flour (although you can ditch this if you want and just use the all purpose), it has just enough salt, and these cookies taste delicious even when you bake them the same day that you make the dough.  I stopped believing that was true of cookies for a while.  I was making batches and batches of cookies, baking half immediately and half on the next day and all the recipes I tested did not taste as good if you didn't chill the dough.  This recipe though?  These cookies are delicious.  And, these cookies taste good hot.  Because honestly, I've found that most cookies don't taste good hot.  Most cookies are way better after you've let them cool.  These babies are tasty all the time.  Basically, I'm repeating myself over and over again.  This recipe is wonderful and these cookies are delightful.

More importantly, I've included in the recipe below, all of the notes that I put into my recipe when sending it to my sister who has previously messed up break-and-bake chocolate chip cookies.  If you follow all my notes in the recipe, you will be golden.  You will look like a pro.  So be kind to yourself and your loved one: make these.  Bake these.  Eat these.  You will find happiness.

The World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes roughly 26-30 cookies, depending on size

334 grams salted butter (11.8 oz = almost 3 sticks)

268 grams dark brown sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons unsulfured blackstrap molasses  (24 grams)
133 grams granulated sugar
75 grams turbinado / raw cane sugar    **alternatively, you can leave this out and just use 208 grams granulated sugar
less than 1 tsp sea salt  (if you're using regular table salt use less, barely 1/2 tsp)
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
455 grams all purpose flour
20 grams whole wheat flour **alternatively, you can leave this out and just use  475 grams all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1-2 cups semisweet or dark chocolate chip  (I never actually measure this... just you know, add enough. Also please don't use Nestle. Be better than Nestle.  Use Ghirardelli)

Let the butter soften. Takes like 3-4 hours at room temperature in the summer.  It's faster if you cut it into little pieces. FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T MICROWAVE IT.  Melted butter makes weird, flattened-out, greasy cookies.

Combine the softened butter with the brown sugar, molasses, white sugar, and sea salt. Beat with a mixer for a long time. It should fluff up like frosting. Takes 3-5 min depending on how good your mixer is.

Add eggs and vanilla extract. Keep beating. Should get even fluffier. About 2-3 min.

Measure out your flour separately & add the baking soda to it. Stir to mix it up. Add in ~1/3 the flour mixture to the butter/egg mix. Stir with a spatula / the TURNED OFF beater until it's kinda combined so it doesn't explode in your face.
Turn the mixer on low. Just barely let it combine, some white areas is okay.
Add in another ~1/3 of the flour mixture with HALF the chocolate chips you want to use.
Repeat the above mixing steps. Add in the last of the flour and the rest of your choc chips.
Repeat mixing steps again, but make sure that all the flour is combined in and looks yummy and consistent/smooth.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stuff to make sure everything is incorporated.
Allow the dough to rest in the fridge, covered, for 30 minutes to 48 hours (depending on how much time / patience you have).

Preheat oven to 325F.

Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Shape your dough into about golf-ball or ping-pong ball sized portions.  Flattened them slightly when you put them on the baking sheet

Bake ONE BAKING SHEET AT A TIME (never ever bake more than one sheet) on the middle rack for 16-18 minutes. Take out and let cool. 

Note: You can keep the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 4 days (that's what I did) and bake slowly over time. Or pop the cookie dough balls into the freezer and bake them whenever you want them. Don't keep them in the freezer for longer than like 1 month though; they start to get frost-bite and will not taste good. Never defrost frozen dough; just bake it as it is (and add about 1-2 min to your baking time)