I’ve realized something this week: I spend a ridiculous amount of time at the grocery store, especially in the baking isle. Although I know every ingredient’s location by heart, I tend to stare at the groceries for about 10 minutes, hoping a magical new ingredient will pop out from the shelves and give me creative ideas for my next new dessert. The workers there keep asking if I need any help finding something. I’m sure they think I’m weird.

You know what else I’ve realized? When it comes to ingredients I like to bake with, I’m a sucker for deals. I even go after the bad ones, like “Buy 3 and enter a competition to win a trip around the world!” or “Buy 17 bags of M&Ms and get one free!”, which is exactly what happened this week, by the way. Ok, maybe not 17 bags, but still more than I needed. Thank goodness there are cookies for just this kind of occasion! You can add ANYTHING to a good cookie batter and it will taste delicious. Even bacon.

So let’s talk about that good cookie batter recipe – this recipe. It produces soft, chewy, and ridiculously delicious cookies. These cookies are also big. They’re not giant, but they are big enough to stop my cookie craving – and this is me we’re talking about. Of course you can make them smaller, but why would you want to?

In my chocolate chips cookies post, you’ll find all the information you need about the secrets to making perfect cookies and why this recipe works – although it’s based on Baking Illustrated’s recipe, so of course it works!

If you like thick cookies, then please please please don’t skip the step of chilling the dough. This specific recipe uses melted butter, so the dough is really soft. I know it’s hard and not very fun to wait, but it’s worth it. With that being said, of course you can bake the cookies right away, but they might spread out more than if you had chilled them.

If you like soft cookies, don’t wait for the cookies to appear dry before taking them out of the oven. Even if they look extremely soft, they will firm up once cooled. The middle should appear under baked with the edges having just begun to brown. This makes all the difference in the world between a crunchy cookie and soft, chewy goodness.