Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I thought I had found the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

And, honestly, I still don't think I'll ever meet a chocolate chip cookie I don't like.

But nonetheless, you must disregard all previous claims I've made about chocolate chip cookies. 

These.

are. 

the.

most.

amazing.

chocolate.

chip.

cookies.

EVER.

The recipe comes from Baking Illustrated and I found it on one of my favorite food blogs: Brown Eyed Baker.

No, this doesn't make a lot of cookies, but it does make 18-20 amazingly large, perfectly chewy, awesomely chocolately chip cookies.  These are best the day (or 20 minutes after) they come out of the oven, but they're always delicious. And frankly, friends, I might never go searching again. This is where it's at. 

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

4. Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.

6. Eat your heart out.