Can't say no.

If there's one treat that has the most universal capability of making college kids nostalgic, comforted, content, warm, and fuzzy all at once, it's chocolate chip cookies and a cold glass of milk. There's something about passing around a tray of these right out of the oven that I really enjoy. Face it: they make people happy. They're classics that we all grew up eating, and can convince even the healthiest of us to succumb to savoring one every so often.

As someone who has fun whipping up whatever the majority of my friends and buildingmates are craving most, it goes without saying that I've baked more than my fair share of chocolate chip cookies in college already. I've modified Alton Brown's recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies over the years, and it's now one of the few recipes I don't need to refer to the recipe for (a big deal for someone with my memory). It's super easy, the cookies come out with the perfect balance of chewy and crunchy, and are done baking before you can finish licking the spoon. The best part: how much dough you end up with. You can either throw whatever you don't feel like baking into a plastic bag and in the freezer, or treat the drooling onlookers to seconds--thirds, if they're quick.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (a couple pinches will do if you can't be bothered for measuring spoons like me)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (there's no shame in imitation; we're called 'broke college kids' for a reason)
• 2 cups chocolate chips (semisweet)

Set the oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in the microwave while you measure out the sugars; combine butter and sugar, and mix in the egg + egg yolk and vanilla. Mix the salt, baking soda, and flour together. Add a third of the flour mixture into the sugar mixture, and mix until combined. Add another third of the flour, and mix again. Add the last of the flour and the chocolate chips at the same time, and mix until most of the flour has been mixed in--leaving the dough slightly under-stirred prevents them from being anything from ooey- gooey.

Shape large spoonfuls into balls (or blobs, honestly either way they end up tasting bomb), and spread as many as you can fit onto a cookie sheet with an inch and a half or so between them. Put them in the oven, and check on them after about 8 minutes. You know it's time to take them out when the edges are lightly browned and you almost pass out in anticipation. Letting them cool for about five minutes is well worth it; trust me. Take the first one for yourself, and serve the rest to the people drawn out of their rooms by the familiar aroma.
And please, for your own sake, have milk on hand.