No one needs a new basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. I mean, everyone has their favorite – their tried and true. This website even has a recipe I have tagged as my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie (though, granted, I still can't make them as well as my mama does). So, who am I to add to the mix? And with so many recipes out there, there simply cannot be one that trumps them all.

Right?

Well…

Just give me 30 minutes of your time. Plus 24 hours of downtime. Then about 16-18 minutes.

And I swear - SWEAR - I will COMPLETELY change your mind about all of the other chocolate chip cookie recipes you have ever tried.

I know I sound like a crazed baker right now. I mean, I can hear how this sounds as I type away. But, what if I tell you this recipe has been endorsed by the New York Times cooking section - a source second only to Julia Child for recipes you can count on - will you consider that I just might be right?

If I tell you that they are wonderfully soft and chewy, unbelievably buttery and chock full of chocolate perfectly juxtaposed against a hint of sea salt, will you concede?

If I promise they will go perfectly with a tall glass of milk for your pre-schooler, but also pair elegantly with some cult Japanese whiskey for your dinner party, will you sleep on it?

Because I know – I KNOW – that if you try these cookies, you will pack up your remaining recipes as cute memorabilia for your grandkids, to be shared someday in the future as you box your things to move to a more sensible, single floor dwelling: “Oh, I remember THIS recipe…I was madly in love with it for many years until…”

Are you convinced? Are you at least intrigued?

Well, you won't know until you try. And nothing is easier to make, bake and offload than chocolate chip cookies. So, where's the risk? Why hesitate?

Let me (okay, and master pastry chef Jacques Torres) be the one(s) to change your life.

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookies

When baking these babies, cooking times will vary depending on size of your cookies and how many trays you put in your oven at once. I find these are perfectly cooked when the top is just set and you can smell the cookies baking throughout the house. If you do more than one tray at a times, swap their position in the oven halfway through baking for more even cooking. Lastly, make sure you make the dough at least a day, and up to 3 days, ahead of when you will need it!

2 cups, minus 2 Tbsp (8.5 oz) cake flour

1 and 2/3 cups (8.5 oz) bread flour

1 ¼ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp coarse salt

2.5 sticks (10 oz) unsalted butter

1 ¼ cups (10 oz) light brown sugar

1 C plus 2 Tbsp (8 oz) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp natural vanilla

1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or feves, at least 60% cocao content *(see below)

Sea salt, for sprinkling

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

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or hand held beaters), cream together butter and sugars until very light, about 5 minutes.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla, beating until just combined.

4. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing 5 – 10 seconds until completely incorporated.

5. Fold in chocolate disks with a wooden spoon, taking care not to break them up.

6. Wrap dough well in plastic wrap or place in some other airtight container and referidgerate overnight, and up to 72 hours

7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F. Scoop out desired size (he says 3.5 oz generous golf balls, I generally do a little smaller) onto parchment covered baking sheet.

8. Sprinkle with sea salt – this is KEY!!

9. Bake for 18-20 minutes, less or more depending on desired size, but making sure they look just barely cooked on top when you go to pull them out. You should smell them baking in the house to know they are done.

10. Transfer to wired rack and let cool (or seriously, just eat right away, letting the chocolate drip down your fingers and the sides of your mouth)

11. Repeat with remaining dough OR shape dough into balls and put in Ziploc bag, freezing for later use. If baking straight from freezer, add 2 or 3 minutes to your cooking time.

*I have used my favorite See's semi-sweet chocolate chips, but also have shopped at this website for these killer dark chocolate disks, too. Alternatively, Whole Foods generally has a great selection of chocolate disks for baking!