• Soften the butter at room temperature, or briefly in the microwave, just until it yields to light pressure. Overly softened butter will cause the cookies to spread too much in the oven.
• Don't overbeat the butter and sugar. Mix them until well combined, but not light and fluffy. Overmixing will cause the cookies to spread too much.
• Don't sift the flour. On hot, humid days, add an extra tablespoon or two of flour to the mix to prevent the cookies from going flat.
• Break, rather than cut, 3 or 4 ounce chocolate bars into 1/2 inch chunks. A knife creates too many small shards and crumbles.
• Milk and white chocolate chips tend to be cloyingly sweet. It is better to use high-quality white or milk chocolate bars broken into chunks, rather than chips.
• Six ounces of chips measure 1 level cups; 6 ounces of chunks measure 1 rounded cup. When using chunks, go by the weight called for in a recipe rather than the measure. You don't need a scale. Chocolate bars are scored into small squares. Just read the weight on the wrapper and figure out how many squares there are per ounce.
• For a cookie more densely populated with chocolate, feel free to increase the amount of chips in the following recipes from 1 cup on 1 1/3 cup, or the amount of chocolate chunks from 6 to 8 ounces.
• Toasted nuts are tastier than raw. Even pecans and walnuts will benefit from 10 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees F. Make sure they're completely cool before adding them to the dough.
• Most chocolate chip dough is just dry enough to allow you to roll walnut-size balls gently and gingerly between your palms. If the dough sticks, wet the palms of your hands.
• A quick way to form perfectly round mounds of dough is to use an ice-cream scoop measuring 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Level the dough off across the top before dropping it onto the baking sheet. You can also shape and drop the dough using two spoons.
• To make large cookies, use an ice-cream scoop measuring about 2 inches in diameter, leveling the dough off across the top before dropping it onto the baking sheet. Use the palm of your hand, press each mound down to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes. You'll get about half the amount of large cookies from a batch of dough.
• Use ungrease baking sheets. You can fit fourteen cookies on a 14 by 17 inch baking sheet by arrange them in alternating rows of three and four across.
• Cookies bake best one tray at a time in the oven. If you need to reuse a baking sheet, allow it to cool and wipe it clean between batches.
• Bake the cookies until the edges are golden brown and appear done; the centers may look slightly underbaked. This could take anywhere from 9 to 14 minutes, depending on your oven. The cookies will continue to darken on the baking sheet once they are removed from the oven. Let them remain on the hot tray until sturdy enough to transfer to a cooling rack 4 to 5 minutes. The cookies will deflate as they cool.
• To make a larger batch of cookies, any of the recipes in this chapter may be doubled.
• To save time, make the dough ahead and chill it for up to two days in the refrigerator, or freeze it for up to a week. When ready to bake, let the dough come to room temperature, then scoop and bake.
• In cool, dry weather, chocolate chip cookies fare quite well overnight when left out in the open on a plate or wire rack, or they can be stored for up to three days in a tin or cookie jar. Airtight plastic containers tend to make chocolate chip cookies limp; hot or muggy weather will make them soggy. To crisp and freshen baked cookies, arrange them on baking sheets and heat in a 350 degree F oven for about 5 minutes, then cool on wire racks.
• If you must bake ahead, freeze the cookies for up to two weeks wrapped in foil and sealed in plastic bags. Chocolate chip cookies are even quite tasty eaten froze, if you're too impatient to defrost. To simulate just-baked cookies, thaw them at room temperature, warm them in a 350-degree F oven, and cool the cookies on wire racks.

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