The only chocolate chip cookie recipe you’ll ever need

Love a great chocolate-chip cookie? Whether you’re more of a crisp and crumbly kind of fan, or you prefer yours soft and chewy, this kind of love requires only one thing: a sweet tooth. Oh, and plenty of chocolate.

Ever wonder who invented the chocolate-chip cookie? Of course you have.

The cookie was created in the 1930s by Ruth Wakefield at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass. According to Nestle, Wakefield added bits of chopped chocolate to a batch of butter cookie dough, expecting the chocolate to melt into the cookies as they baked. To her surprise, the chocolate held its shape. The chocolate chip cookie was born, and history was made.

PHOTOS: 28 great recipes using chocolate chips

But enough history. Below is our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. And because you can never have enough cookies, we’ve compiled four more here.

Now all you need is a big glass of milk.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Servings: 12 very large cookies

Note: Adapted from Joan’s on Third.

2 1/2 cups (10.8 ounces) flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter

1 1/4 cup plus a heaping 2 tablespoons (7 ounces) light brown sugar

1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar

2 extra-large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound 60% chocolate disks or large chips, coarsely chopped

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Add the eggs, beating them in one at a time, until completely incorporated, then beat in the vanilla.

5. Add the flour mixture, then the salt, and mix until completely combined to form the dough. Fold in the chocolate pieces by hand.

6. Scoop a generous one-third cup of the mixture for each cookie, spacing them wide apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Be sure to leave enough space as the cookies will spread, placing no more than 3 cookies on each sheet.

7. Bake the cookies until set and lightly browned on the edges, 16 to 20 minutes. Remove and place the baking sheet on a rack until the cookies are cooled. Repeat until all the cookies are baked.

Each cookie: 557 calories; 6 grams protein; 64 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 31 grams fat; 18 grams saturated fat; 78 mg cholesterol; 38 grams sugar; 428 mg sodium.

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