This is the best chocolate chip cookie you’ve ever had. And that’s no small claim. This recipe has been meticulously tweaked from its nondescript origins on Allrecipes over four years of formative cookie development, coming out golden and a little gooey, cooling chewy and crisp around the edges. 

Adjust the baking time to make your favorite kind of cookie: shorter bake times turn out gooey cookies that cool very chewy, while longer bake times turn out cookies that hold together and cool very crunchy  — everyone’s favorite exists somewhere on the continuum. 

Mix in a little cinnamon and allspice for a spiced cookie, try white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts instead of chocolate chips, or if you’re really into molasses, use dark brown sugar. 

Your New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 24 to 30 cookies

25 minutes hands-on, 1 and a half hours total 

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon hot water

1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 cups chocolate chips

Step one: Setting up

Set all ingredients out to come to room temperature together. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

Step two: Making the dough

Cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy for 2 to 4 minutes. Beat in the egg until well combined, and stir in the vanilla extract. Dissolve the salt and baking soda in the hot water in a shot glass and pour into the creamed mixture, stirring well to combine. Pour the flour in the bowl, followed by the chocolate chips, and fold until combined. Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour, up to overnight.

Step three: Baking the cookies

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Drop spoonfuls of about a tablespoon and a half of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, four rows of three spaced about two inches apart, for a dozen cookies per sheet. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes depending on how gooey you like them, or until the cookies are set in the middle and golden brown on the edges. Eight minutes will produce a very gooey cookie, 11 minutes will produce a very crisp cookie; cookies baked for 9 minutes come out slightly gooey to set chewy when they cool. Cool on the pan for 2 to 3 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.