Jenica's Chocolate Chip Cookies (Updated)

A few months ago, I posted the recipe for Jenica's Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are still the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever tried. Don't get me wrong, I'm always willing to try new ones and to see what else is out there, but I also come back to these in a pinch. I took some new photos recently when I made them, and I have to admit, they look rather scrumptious!

Shaner promised his young men that if they ALL brought their Duty to God books to church on Sunday, that his wife (me) would make them treats. They've had my cookies before, so I guess it worked. They ALL brought their books so I sent some cookies with them. I actually made two types from the same dough. But I made a separate post for the others: Easter Chip Cookies.

These are the very best chocolate chip cookie I have ever eaten. And I've eaten a lot of chocolate chip cookies in my day. Jenica first introduced the recipe to us when they were living up in Idaho for a few months. It was love at first bite. Not only are they chalk-full of chocolate chips, but they have a nice salty bite to them that helps break down the sweetness to a form of perfection that not every cookie has. Yum.

This recipe is so versatile. I have used it to make the original chocolate chip cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips, as posted here. But I have also used M&M's, sprinkles, white chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips. You can basically put whatever you want in and on these cookies!

As I mentioned previously, these cookies ask for 2 teaspoons of salt per batch. DON'T DECREASE THE SALT! When we first made them, I thought that that was way too much salt. But no, it is a necessity to making these the best chocolate chip cookies you'll ever eat.

One way I like to make my cookies look more presentable...and who am I kidding, add more chocolate!...is by hand-placing additional chocolate chips on top of the cookies prior to baking them. It's not a necessary step...

...But who doesn't like a few more chocolate chips! Plus, after they bake, they look perfect with the hand-placed chips on top of a hot bed of cookie.

Besides the sweet, salty, chocolatey goodness of these cookies, the reason they are the VERY BEST is the texture. If they're baked just right, you will bite into a crispy shell covering a gooey, melty interior. It doesn't get any better than that.

Did I mention they freeze great?