08/29/2026
Ten years ago, when I was just baking for fun with my friend Shaye, we were on the hunt for the best chocolate chip cookie. We would try three recipes at a time and then pick a winner. That winner was compared to all others until we had tried probably 15+ recipes. Back then, the clear winner was Sherry Yard's chocolate chip cookie receipe. She was Wolfgang Puck's pastry chef when she created it, and you can find it online in the NY Times and many other places. Don't get me wrong, I still love it. It's delicious.
But one day I wanted to make cookies...but couldn't remember which one was my favorite (I have a binder and all of the recipes we tried are in there), so I opened one of my many baking cook books to a chocolate chip recipe by Johnny Iuzzini. His recipe was unlike any other I remember...it calls for cinnamon and almond extract which sound...interesting, but not what I wanted. So I eliminated the cinnamon, subbed vanilla extract for the almond, and basically that's my version of his recipe. And it's immediately became my entire family's favorite. Hands down. So today I share it with you.
I made them for my last cookie decorating class. I usually make macarons, but I didn't have time, so these fit the bill, and were a hit. So I'm curious, if you came to a future class, would be more excited for a macaron or a drop cookie (chocolate chip or smores or snickerdoodle). What would you prefer?
Happy Baking! https://tinyurl.com/macscookie
