Let’s talk about … The perfect chocolate chip cookie

Ever since I was little, I remember being surrounded by a multitude of baked goods. From my grandma to my aunts to my loving mother, the tradition of baking has been ingrained into who I am.

I actually didn't start baking on my own until college; being more than two hours away from my mother's cookies made me start baking my own.

I haven't looked back since.

One of my favorite things to bake is cookies, specifically chocolate chip cookies. There's just something about the classic cookie that gives me a sense of comfort and joy, especially when the gooey chocolate melts in my mouth.

So when I was in college and starting to bake on my own, I began my search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Don't get me wrong, I love the Nestle Tollhouse recipe because that's the one I grew up with, but I wanted those giant, gooey cookies, the ones that often get sold out in bakeries.

One of the key things I kept an eye out for when searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe was the chocolate. I am a big fan of the dark and bitter chocolates, so if the recipe included anything other than semisweet chocolate chips or darker, it wasn't good enough.

Another thing I looked into was the amount of time it took to make the dough. Before my search began, I was a part of the 'make the dough and bake the cookies,” crowd. However, I realized that chilling the dough, even for a couple of hours, definitely makes a difference in flavor and texture.

Lastly, I wanted my chocolate chip cookies to be crunchy with a crisp, but also thick and a little gooey in the middle. This was my hardest challenge, because how do you find that perfect middle of two complete opposites?

A year ago, I thought I had finally figured it out and made the perfect chocolate chip cookies. They were packed full of darker chocolate, crispy yet gooey in the middle, and the flavor was the right amount of intense. However, the cookies wouldn't keep their flavor or freshness for more than a day.

So here I am again, back at the drawing boards. Maybe this year will be the year I finally figure it out, or maybe I'll be searching for that perfect chocolate chip cookie until my hair turns gray.