You have to have a recipe for chocolate chip cookies

Yes, you do. Even yours truly, who is decidedly NOT a fan of them, makes them. Why? Well, make a batch of them someday, and put them in front of people. Warm, cold, hot, whatever, watch faces light up. Honestly, I don't get it. Bring the oatmeal cookies out for me, but hey, who am I to argue? There was a time when I was making a batch of these every week (but then again, there was a time when I had a 33 inch waist. I DID!!! Don't call me a liar, I'll show you the pictures).

There. I feel much better. The thing about these is that they seem to remind people of everything that was "good" about childhood, even if there wasn't much. Some people have told me that eating a chocolate chip cookie feels like a kiss. Well, alright. I like kissing. I like kissing my friends, and if it's a chocolate chip cookie that does it, ok, let's go.

Frankly, you don't need a recipe for these cookies. If you buy Nestle's chocolate chips, the recipe on the package is kind of definitive (just like the pecan pie recipe on the label of Karo corn syrup is the best one I have ever found). But I like the one that follows better. I like the texture of the cookies it produces, and I like the fact that I have the control over soft or crispy. I think you'll like them too. There's an interesting technique in here, and it may seem weird, but it works. Here we go.

First, preheat your oven to 325. Then, melt a stick and a half of unsalted butter, and let it cool. Don't cool it all the way , "warm" is what you want. What is warm? We went over this with bread: if it feels tepid to you, it's warm. If it feels like a hot shower to you, it's not.

While it's cooling, get your other ingredients together. Those will be 2.25 cups of bleached flour.

WHOA. He's saying "bleached" again? Well, yes. The fact is, the bleaching of flour breaks down the ability of the flour to make gluten. You want gluten for a loaf of bread. For a cookie, where you want a "snap" you want shorter strands. That's why you use bleached flour. You mix this in a bowl with half a teaspoon, each of baking soda and salt.

Separately, have a cup of brown sugar and a half cup of white sugar. You will also want one large egg, and one egg yolk. Also, a tablespoon of vanilla. Finally, the "goodies." If you want to make a completely chocolate chip cookie, get two cups of chips. Any kind, just please make sure they are good quality. I prefer bittersweet, not everyone does. You can mix chips and get white and bittersweet, cinnamon and chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate, just make sure they're tasty. If you want to make a mix of chips and something else, like nuts, do a cup of each. If you put too much "stuff" into the cookies, they will not bake up properly. Two cups is about all this recipe can take.

Now, you can do this by hand, and really, you should. Mix butter and the sugars together until you've got a very thorough blend. You'll see this happen, as it moves from a wet sand kind of consistency, to a mass. Now add the egg and yolk, the vanilla and mix. Then stir in the flour and don't overdo it. Finally, add your goodies.

Now, we come to the fun stuff. You want to take no more than a quarter cup of batter per cookie. Measure it. Take a ball of the dough, and - ready for this? Pull it apart with your two hands. You'll have a smooth side, where you didn't pull, and the rough side, where the parts came apart. Rotate the halves, and have the rough edges stand up. Push the halves together, and then put that mass of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet. Keep on keeping on until you've filled the sheet with, say, no more than about twelve to a sheet. Use more sheets if you make more (incidentally, you can make smaller cookies. Just reduce the baking time).

Set a timer for seven minutes and turn it on after you put the cookies in the oven. At seven minutes, reverse the cookie sheet, so that the front is now the back (incidentally, NEVER bake more than one sheet of cookies at a time. Ovens heat differently. You'll burn one sheet and undercook the other. Trust me.). After 14 minutes, take a look. Are they light golden brown, and do you see a crisping at the edge? If so, you're done. If not, wait two, then four minutes. Don't bake these more than 18 minutes total.

Here's another cute trick. Do you like chewy cookies, or crispy ones? If you like chewy ones, when you take the sheet out of the oven, let them cool on the sheet. This traps moisture that stays in the cookie. If you like a crispier cookie, you should let them cool on a rack, so that all the moisture can get out of the finished product.

When they're cool, if they make it that far , put t hem in a tin for a few days. They won't keep that long, but they aren't supposed to. Cookies are supposed to be a spur of the moment thing, and they should be enjoyed as such.

For all of you folks who use the premade dough from stores, try these. They really don't take too much time more, and take one taste. They are MUCH better.

I would like to dedicate this recipe to Roland and Andrew, who love chocolate chip cookies, and who looked so good dancing together at our commitment ceremony that I wanted to make the cookies right then and there. And yes, that' s another sip out of the distillate that is the commitment ceremony.