This has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe since pretty much forever.

It all started seven years ago. I’d just moved back from France and I was missing the pastries there. However, I realized the one advantage America has over French pastries: Chocolate chip cookies. I never found a really good one over there.

I decided to make a batch of the softest, chewiest chocolate chip cookies. I started with a base recipe and I’ve since perfected it. It involves butter, two kinds of sugar, some salt (because most baked goods taste better with salt), and a generous number of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips.

There are two ways to make these cookies: The impatient way and the patient way. If you’re in a rush, you can mix the dough, scoop it into balls, place it on a cookie sheet, and bake the cookies immediately. HOWEVER, they will not be as rounded and pouffy (is that a word?) as if you take the patient route.

If you have a little extra time, I’d recommend putting the dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours, preferably overnight. This is a trick used to make many chocolate chip cookies. It gives the dough time to firm up and it will create a more molded finished product. There’s nothing worse than runny, goopy cookies, except maybe no cookies at all.

This is a good base recipe. You can get creative with the kind of chips you add. Maybe you’ll even want to add chocolate chunks. But whatever you do, don’t omit the salt. The salt is the ingredient that makes the cookie. It balances the sweetness and enhances the flavor of the chocolate chips.

I whipped up a batch of these last night and it took all my willpower not to eat all the cookie dough. I saved a few for my boyfriend and I’m bringing the rest to my sister’s house for dinner tonight.

Here’s a song to get you started on your chocolate chip cookie-making journey.

My Go-To Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup golden brown sugar, packed
1 tsp fine salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (about 12 oz) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions

Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a large bowl. Set aside. In a stand-mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and two sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and add the salt, vanilla extract, and eggs. Mix for another minute until fully combined.

Add the flour and mix until just combined. Use a spatula to incorporate the chocolate chips.

Place the dough in the refrigerator for a couple hours or overnight. This will help them keep their shape later.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a few cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Place heaping tablespoons of dough on the cookie sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart (they will spread). Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until they’re golden brown around the edges but still soft in the middle.

Remove the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for a couple minutes. Then carefully place them on a baking rack to cool the rest of the way. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!