Here's Kenji's article from Serious Eats, testing every possible permutation of CC cookies and some of the science behind it. And it's fun reading, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kenji's best Chocolate Chip cookies

Thanks, sushipup, I'll take a look.

The salt thing is a mystery to me. Around here we really like salt on cookies using Sol's brown sugar choc chip recipe. It seems to enhance the flavor of the chocolate. However it doesn't necessarily help other choc chip recipes I've tried. Go figure.

Just for the fun of it, substitute a large helping (say a tsp per stick of butter, of finely ground up coffee beans instead of the nutmeg. It surprises people, but not badly...

Last batch I made I added a bunch of chopped candied ginger to the mix- about the same volume as a bag of chocolate chips. DH really liked them (and so did I :-) won't be making them again too soon as I ate waaaaay too many of them :-) )

I do what grubby me does; add instant espresso to the melted butter. I also add a bit of cinnamon and a little bit of extra vanilla. I always use dark brown sugar and when I melt the butter, I get it a little toasty. Adds nuttiness.

My standard recipe is CI's thick and chewy CC.

IMO the old Toll House recipe for chocolate chip cookies remains the best of all.

Colleen, do you substitute the candied ginger for the chocolate chips, or use it in addition to the chocolate chips?

Sally

Eibren, did you know that the Toll House recipe was changed?

Oh oh, I don't make cookies often what is different about the Toll House recipe?

I do not add salt to chocolate chip cookies at all - I can taste the salt, and it is very distracting. Chocolate tastes better without salt, and I check ingredients for anything I buy that has chocolate to make sure that salt has not been added. If I do think salt is needed, I always use less than half the amount of salt called for. I do not like nutmeg with chocolate, but coconut is good.

I used to make chocolate chip cookies by adding chocolate chips to oatmeal cookies, and then I started substituting granola for oatmeal (had to reduce sugar when doing this), and they were even better, if you like them crunchy. If you like them soft, oatmeal is better. The granola I use has coconut and almonds in it.

Lars

OMG, it took me 2 days to read Kenji's Science of the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. Ok, that is a wee exaggeration, but it seemed like 2 days! Fascinating, nevertheless.

I make the Chocolate Chip Cookies using the Jacques Torres recipe. It is fiddly, but they are enough better that I'm willing to put up with all the fiddliness.. I have one problem. I cannot scoop the dough until it has set out for a couple of hours. Any tips for scooping cold cookie dough? Lift weights?