After I posted a recipe for the softest chocolate chip cookies yesterday, I started thinking about all the chocolate chip cookies I’ve made over the years. I’ve tried a bunch of recipes but a few have stood out from the rest. I decided to make a power ranking of chocolate chip cookie recipes, partly so I have them all in one place and partly so you can see which ones to make.

When I was little, I grew up eating my mom’s chocolate chip cookies. They’re really good. I love them. I still feel as giddy as a child when she makes them for me or my siblings. They’re soft, full of chocolate morsels, and decadent, everything a good chocolate chip cookie should be.

HOWEVER, the older I get, the more I realize that chocolate chip cookies are even better with salt. I’m not talking about a pinch of salt or a little extra in the dough. I’m talking full-on salt chips, like the Maldon sea salt variety (see the photo at the top of this post). Salt makes most baked goods taste better, but it works a special magic on chocolate chip cookies. It pairs well with the semi-sweet chocolate and balances the sugar.

Usually I prefer softer chocolate chip cookies, but the cookie that clinched the number one spot in my power ranking is on the crispier side. It’s made with shortbread dough, which gives it a more crunchy texture.

What sets it apart from the other recipes is salt. I’m not lying when I say that salt is integral to chocolate chip cookies. It takes these particular cookies from “meh” territory to amazing. It makes me want to use salted butter for all my cookie recipes.

Anyway. Before I get too carried away, here is my (highly biased) list of chocolate chip cookie recipes. I think you’ll enjoy the cookies as much as I do:

1. ) Alison Roman’s Salted Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies – This recipe is a celebrity on Instagram right now. It’s been making the rounds for weeks. I saw it a month or two ago and I brushed it off because I hate trends. Then I caved and made the cookies. I’m so happy I did. Not many chocolate chip cookies taste better on day two, but these do. They’re chocolate-y, rich, buttery, satisfying…I’m at a loss for words.

2.) Salted Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies – These cookies get a boost from tahini, a ground sesame seed paste that is a “hip” ingredient in the food world right now. I succumbed to another trend by making these cookies last spring, but I don’t care. When something is delicious, it doesn’t matter if it turns you into a sheep. If you make these, spring for the good tahini and chocolate chips. Higher quality ingredients make a big difference.

3.) Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies – I’ve been making these cookies for years. It started after I moved back from France and I was looking for a soft chocolate chip cookie recipe. The internet pointed me in the direction of Martha Stewart. Her recipe has withstood the test of time. Every time I make these cookies, they’re consistently good. They’re soft in the center and crispy around the edges, two of my qualifications for excellent chocolate chip cookies.

4.) Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies – Chocolate chip cookies are a quintessential American dessert, but leave it up to French pastry chef Jacques Torres to come up with one of the best recipes for chocolate chip cookies. A few years ago, his recipe got A LOT of attention in food publications, which is how I found it. I haven’t made the cookies in a while but I remember them being larger and denser, partly because I refrigerated the dough before baking.

5.) The Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt – I just wrote about these cookies yesterday, so check out the post for the scoop. My friend Anna gave me the recipe and I tweaked it a little to satisfy my salt cravings. The cookies benefit from a mystery ingredient, one that might freak you out a little when you see it in the recipe.

Enjoy these recipes! Here’s a song that reminds me of chocolate chip cookies. It’s sweet, slightly salty, and comforting.