Jimmy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the workhorse chocolate chip cookie, built on the same flour-to-fat-to-sugar ratio that’s worked for decades. Equal parts white and brown sugar gives you both texture profiles in one cookie: white sugar spreads thin and crisps the edges, brown sugar holds moisture and keeps the centers chewy.

Softened butter, not melted, is the move. Butter that bends to a finger press but isn’t greasy creams properly with the sugars and traps air, which gives the cookies their lift. Melted butter pools, makes them flat and greasy.

The full 12 ounces of chocolate morsels is a feature, not a typo. That’s the original Toll House ratio and it’s heavy on chocolate by design. Pull back to 8 ounces if you prefer a more dough-forward cookie.

Drop by teaspoons or use a small cookie scoop for uniformity. Same-sized portions bake at the same rate, no half-raw, half-burnt situations. Leave at least two inches between mounds, these spread.

Pull the cookies when the edges are set and golden but the centers still look slightly underdone. They finish setting on the hot pan as they cool, which keeps the middles soft.

Pro Tips

• Chill the dough 30 minutes before scooping for thicker, less spread-out cookies. Overnight chill develops deeper toffee flavor in the brown sugar.
• Sprinkle flaky sea salt on top right after they come out of the oven. The contrast against the sweet chocolate is what makes a good cookie great.
• Rotate the pans halfway through baking. Most home ovens have hot spots that brown one side faster.
• Underbake for chewy, bake the full 10 minutes for crisp.

Variations

• Swap half the chocolate morsels for chopped walnuts or pecans.
• Use bittersweet chunks instead of morsels for puddles of melted chocolate.
• Brown the butter before creaming for a nutty, caramel-edged cookie.