My interest in baking began back in the fall of 1992. I was a sophomore at San Marin High School (go Mustangs!), dating a cute girl from my English class. She was the daughter of a minister. I was nervous.

One afternoon as the holidays neared, I went over to her house for some parent-approved cookie baking. Just the kind of thing that a girlfriend’s mother loves. I had baked chocolate chip cookies before, always carefully following the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip package. So I was struck by the fact that my girlfriend and her mother were deviating from the time-tested wisdom of Toll House. Nothing dramatic–mind you–just a bit more flour and a bit less time in the oven for softer cookies. The results were delicious, I’m sure the word “awesome” was used.

I brought some cookies to school the following week. I shared a few with my buddies and classmates. They gobbled ‘em up and asked for more. I started taking orders. I made enough money over the course of two weeks to cover Christmas shopping that year. I’m pretty sure I was the only guy on the football team with a side business as a baker.

The experience opened my mind to the idea that it was OK create, to try something new. The relationship only lasted 3 months, but I’ve been tweaking the recipe for the past 16 years. It shares much in common with the Original Toll House recipe, but there are enough changes that I now call it my own.

These cookies are chocolate-heavy and very soft. Use the best ingredients you can find–it makes a real difference in the final product. I hope you’ll enjoy.

Yield

About 2 dozen cookies. This recipe is just begging to be doubled.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups (2.5 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs at room temperature

2 cups (12 oz. package) semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 ounces semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate (grated)

Method

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Mix butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

Add eggs to butter/sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually beat in flour mixture.

Mix in grated chocolate.

Stir in chocolate chips. At this point, the dough is very thick. Get in there with your (clean) hands to work in the chips.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes. Keep dough in refrigerator between batches.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Adjust rack to middle position.

Roll dough into golf ball-sized balls, and space well on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (about 6 per sheet).

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes. They should look a bit undercooked.

Slide parchment paper and cookies directly onto cooling racks. The cookies are very soft and can fall apart quite easily when warm.

Let the cookies cool for minimum 20 minutes before gorging yourself.