The Practically Perfect Cookie

We wanted a cookie with a chewy interior, crunchy edges, and well-blended flavor. Above all, we wanted a cookie with a high overall chocolate impact to give a sensuous rush to the chocoholic. After much experimentation and perhaps a few cumulative inches added to staffers' waistlines, we created a cookie with all those assets. Our recipe makes 40 medium-sized cookies.

(Read our December 2011 report on chocolate-chip cookies to find out which store-bought and fast-food chocolate-chip cookies tasted best. Download a PDF of the entire February 1985 review of chocolate-chip cookies, where the recipe below originally appeared/)

Ingredients
2-1/4 cups flour
1 level teaspoon baking soda
1 level teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
2 sticks (1/2 lb.) sweet butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 12-oz. package Nestlé semisweet chocolate chips

Procedure
Preheat the oven to 375° F.

1. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

2. Use a stand-type electric mixer to mix the two sugars briefly at low speed. Add the butter in small gobbets, mixing first at low speed and then at high. Beat the mix until it's pale, light, and very fluffy.

3. Add the vanilla at the mixer's lowest speed, then beat at high speed for a few seconds. Add the eggs, again at the lowest speed, switching to high speed for the final second or so. The eggs should be well beaten in, and the mix should look creamed, not curdled.

4. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, one-half cup at a time, mixing at low speed for about one minute, then at high speed for a few seconds.

5. Scrape down the bowl's sides with a spatula, add the chocolate chips, and mix at low speed for about 10 seconds. If need be, scrape the bowl's sides again and mix for a few more seconds.

6. Put tablespoonfuls of the mix on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until the cookies are pale golden brown (nine minutes in an electric oven, 10 to 11 minutes in a gas one). Remove and let them cool on a rack.

Enjoy.