Bestest Chocolate Chip Cookies Evah

After craving chocolate chip cookies and reading 5 different cookbooks (Joy of Cooking is pictured below; also, The New Best Recipe from the Editors of Cook's Illustrated; Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn; Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book; The Newlywed Cookbook by Sarah Copeland) to discern the best way to make my favorite type of cookies -- thick and chewy -- I have made an awesome batch of chocolate chip cookies. My very own variation on the classic recipe and a date night adventure in the culinary arts starts here, at the ingredients:

Please ignore the baking powder - I decided not to use it this time around!

Helpers: mixing bowl 1, a mixer + mixing bowl 2, measuring cup, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 tablespoon, 2 dining spoons, parchment paper (optional but SO AWESOME - cut with scissors), cookie sheet, and cooling rack.

So, let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start):

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Mixing bowl 1 - whisk it, whisk it good (or don't, like me):
1 cup and 2 tablespoons of flour 
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

Mixing bowl 2 (under mixing stand, or using much stronger arms than mine); beat until well-blended:
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter (many recipes recommend unsalted; I only had salted and so used that); best if softened beforehand
1 cup light brown sugar (I used brown instead of 1/2 granulated, 1/2 brown because granulated helps give cookies the crispier edge, and I wanted softer. Dark brown sugar makes them even softer, apparently... may experiment one day for softness and flavor.)

Once mixing bowl 2 is well-blended, add in:
1 [large] egg + 1 egg yolk (carefully crack egg, then transfer the yolk back and forth between the two egg shells while the albumen (egg whites) leaks out, preferably into the sink)
1/4 teaspoon of salt (I just shook salt into the bowl)
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Once those three ingredients are well-blended as well, add in the flour and baking soda mixture. Continue to mix, mix, mix! Then add in 1 cup of chocolate chips! I used regular semi-sweet - may go for mini next time (preference). Mix, mix, mix!

After scraping the ginormous amount of batter off the mixer, grab your parchment paper and cut to fit your cookie sheet. 

Use one dining spoon (the bigger one) to scoop the batter, and the other spoon (smaller helps) to help plop it on the parchment paper/ cookie sheet. This kind of batter is sticky on your fingers - the more you touch it, the more it connects! Don't worry about making the batter look pretty or spread wider on your pan. The baking process will help the cookies flatten out. 

Keep the batter an inch or two apart.

Pop into the oven for 8:30 to 9 minutes, depending on the color you like.

These are at 9 minutes; I prefer the 8:30 myself - both chewy-soft!

Let the cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring to the cooling rack, and then plopping more batter onto that amazing parchment paper. (Clean-up? Done. Cookies come right off!)

These cookies are fantastic. I have three recipients who all praise their deliciousness, and I myself have had to shut myself into another room to avoid walking into the kitchen for another... which I will do as soon as I publish this!

I'm sure there are ways I can improve this recipe. Any ideas?

Bon appetit!