All this breakdown and he basically comes around and ends up with the Cook’s Illustrated recipe that he mentions. I mean, this is what America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Illustrated does - that make a bajillion of them and find what works.
Besides this is pretty much my go to recipe for cookies, except I sub out some of the flour for coarse ground oatmeal. Fuck, I want some cookies (bonus if you make them and just keep the dough in the fridge for a week or so - it’s fresh baked every time.)
Actually the chocolate chip cookie I have yet to find a decent recipe for is more or less a shortbread version, dry crumbly with a ton of chips and what not. (A long since closed local coffee house had the best cookies - they were like a gourmet chips-a-hoy.)
