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[Photograph: Robyn Lee] Searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie has been a pet project of mine for a while, and over the course of the past year I have gone through more pounds of butter, brown sugar, and chocolate chips than you can possibly imagine. Honestly, I don't think there's been a cookbook containing a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I haven't tried out for myself. Even before I received a copy of Ready for Dessert I'd heard a lot about David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookie recipe and was really looking forward to testing the recipe to see how they measured up. While the ingredient list for Lebovitz's cookies is pretty standard, there's a step that sets this recipe apart from others I've tried. Once the dough is assembled it's divided into four pieces, rolled into logs and refrigerated until firm. This technique is most commonly associated with icebox or refrigerator cookies. I was curious to see what effect it would have on these otherwise classic chocolate chips. I sliced up my chilled dough and baked the cookies until just a touch under; Lebovitz advises to pull them out a little early for a softer cookie. How were they? Pretty damn good. They had my ideal cookie texture profile—crisp around the edges, chewy in the center with plenty of chocolate chunks of varying sizes. Chilling the dough resulted in cookies that didn't flatten into wafers or spread into each other. The size was perfect—small enough to eat a few with a good conscience. I think these just might be my new favorite chocolate chip cookie, sorry Thomas Keller but Lebovitz's cookies have got yours beat.

• 2 1/2 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (8 ounces/225 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup (215 g) packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups (about 225 g) nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, almonds, or macadamia nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
• 14 ounces (400 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/2- to 1-inch (1.5- to 3-cm) chunks or 3 cups (340 g) chocolate drops

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