QUING Parties at the Palace with BEST EVER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

HO HUM.

Yet another Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. And this one has the audacity to be called THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.

It's called that because it is that.

Proof: Two years ago when I first read this recipe in the NY Times, it sounded like a great big pain. Follow the directions precisely! Plan and have patience! Run out to the grocery store and buy cake flour and bread flour to add to the batter.  Oh, and by the way, that batter has to chill in the fridge a minimum of 24 hours before your kitchen can smell like fresh baked chocolate chip cookies!

NOT.  FOR.  ME.

But the recipe title was too audacious to not prove incorrect. So I tried it. And I discovered that it truly is the Holy Grail of chocolate chip cookie recipes.  P E R F E C T I O N. 

Still skeptical? Just now, I googled the recipe to share it with you, and noted 7, 296 posts from bloggers who have also shared the recipe with friends.  Because it is the best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe ever!

Purchase the extra flours when you next visit the grocery store. They'll last for a bunch of batches of cookies. And follow the recipe as written.  The one change I make is substituting some of the 2 1/4 cups of bittersweet chips with semi-sweet, and milk chocolate chips. The mix of three flavors of chocolate chips is delicious!  GUSTARE!

BEST EVER Chocolate Chip Cookies

                       Recipe from Jacque Torres and The New York Times

INGREDIENTS:

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 (20 oz.) bittersweet chocolate chips, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

*NOTE CHILL TIME of 24-72 hours- it WILL yield a better cookie