This cookie makes me want to have babies.  Well, to be more precise, have kids. A few five-to ten-year-olds who come from my stock of good tastebuds and greedy appetite.  I don’t think about the future of my having children often, or imagine how I’d be with them, but when I cook this cookie, all I think about is doing it with my future offspring, and then sitting around the kitchen table and stuffing our faces.  Chocolate smeared all over our smiles and big mugs of milk.

This is my favorite cookie.  By far.  And if you like your cookies super-chocolatey and baked thin with crisp edges and chewy centers, then this might be your favorite too.  Because of all the white chocolate, there’s an oreo-quality about the cookie (my imaga-kids love that!) and a wave of creaminess within that rich dark chocolate.  The recipe calls for 12 ounces of the chocolate chips but I must admit that I usually make that a generous 12 ounces.  Like any kid (or any sane person) will tell you, the chips are the best part.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made these cookies; I lost count a long, long time ago.  But I will say that they are my favorite dessert, my ultimate sweet comfort food.  Just looking at the photos from the batch I made a few months ago makes me feel better.  I made a big batch and froze most of them (they are great for freezing) and over the past weeks Jim and I have slowly and steadily gone through them all.  There’s none left.  I’m telling you this because I’ve been laid up on the couch with a bad back for almost two weeks now and I’m hoping Jim will read this post and bake these cookies because I can’t myself but I would really, really like to eat them. And for that matter, they’d do just fine sent through the mail.  Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. (I’m totally kidding.)

But in all seriousness, make these cookies.  Feed them to your children if you have them.  And if you don’t have children, these cookies just may put you in the mood to make some babies.

My Favorite Cookie

makes about 24//adapted by Dorie Greenspan

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 6 ounces milk chocolate chips
• 6 ounces white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for about 2 minute, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 3 minutes or so, until well-blended and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. **I’m always careful here to make sure the mixture is very fluffy. If unsure, beat a little more. The fluffier the better in my opinion.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated. Stop the mixer and fold the chocolate chips in with a rubber spatula.

Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls (or with a small ice cream scoop) onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until they are crisp at the edges and gooey in the center. Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remainder of the dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.