I just read the most interesting article in the New York Times about great chocolate chip cookies and a fabulous chocolate chip cookie recipe. Three secrets bits of advice I hadn’t thought of, but they’ll definitely be going in my own family cookbook:

• Resist temptation and let the dough sit for 36 hours in the fridge. This allows the liquids in the dough to penetrate the flour. Deeper penetration gives the chocolate chip cookies a richer flavor and a more consistent color and texture. Apparently all the great cookie bakeries in New York follow this advice.

• Six inches is the ideal size for chocolate chip cookies. It gives you three zones–the crunchier rim, the soft center, and that great in-between zone that has the most flavor. Any smaller and they lose those interior zones. Any bigger and I find them impossible to flip!

• Sprinkle some sea salt on top to give it added dimension right before baking.

Here are the ingredients listed in the Times recipe:

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread 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

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt. Bake at 350° F for 18-20 minutes.

My advice is to forgo the chocolate disks if you can’t get them and just use good ol’ fashioned Nestle semi sweet chocolate chips.

If you enjoyed this article, you might check out:
• Candy Cupcakes: Reeses Peanut Butter Cup-Cake Surprise
• Bacon & Brown Sugar: AKA Pig Candy
• 14 Baking Tips & Techniques from a 1977 Collective Cookbook

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