Few things are for sure in this world.

Chocolate chip cookies are a sure thing. And let’s be sure we are talking about the same cookie.

I make a cookie that is the love child of butter lace cookies and Toll House chocolate chip cookies.

In my book, the perfect chocolate chip cookie to have after an early morning bicycle ride on Saint Patrick’s Day,

to look forward to as I am running the last quarter mile of my half marathon run along the beach,

to delight Seth who is allergic to nuts, is a thin, crispy, round cookie an even golden brown, slightly darker around the edges, erupting with semi sweet chocolate chips.

I frowned at the handbrake on Sky’s Rockaway Cruiser. It was dangling uselessly from the left handle refusing to stay put in its clip. This would clearly be a difficult thing to manage especially while drinking coffee which was the plan.

Fortunately, our friend Paul, who we call The Bike Guy, was nice enough to swing by, toss the Cruiser on his bike rack to take back to his shop to fix. “I’ll just tighten the cable for you and it’ll be fine.”

In the meantime, I was in the kitchen wondering how to make my chocolate chip cookies thinner and crunchier. This has been a work in progress and two weeks ago I came fairly close by making a few adjustments. Today, purely by accident and process of elimination which are my two favorite ways of figuring out most things in life, I made a cookie that I was happy with. So happy that I sent over a plateful of them to Paul who wouldn’t let us give him any money for fixing our bicycle.

About twelve miles later in the afternoon, Seth told me Paul wanted to know if I could give him the recipe for the cookies. “I want a copy too,” said my mom who was helping me with the baking. “I really like the crispiness.”

Here it is.

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Notes: If you have a temperamental hot oven like mine, I suggest you use aluminum baking sheets lined with parchment paper. The bottoms of the cookies will not burn as quickly.

Regarding flour, my friend Katherine, who writes cookbooks so she should really know about this, has always sung the praises of cake flour. I have yet to try this in my cookies but should you have the chance to do so, please let me know how they taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 4 aluminum baking sheets with parchment paper. If you don’t have a sifter, go and get yourself one. It is God’s gift to lumpless cookie dough!

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/4 cups sifted sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cup sifted flour

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter adding the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.

Add the flour, salt and baking soda.

Mix in chocolate chips.

Place no more than half a teaspoon of dough for each cookie on the cookie sheet spacing them apart to allow them to spread. You should get a dozen on each sheet. Place two cookie sheets in the oven for 8 – 9 minutes.

Remove and let cool on racks.

About 6 – 8 dozen small delightfully crispy thin chocolate chip cookies!

Perfect for riding around on your beach bicycle and munching on.