Heat your oven to 375. Don’t skip preheating – temperature matters with these. Put parchment paper on your cookie sheets.

Cream the butter with both sugars in your mixer. Takes about four minutes and you’ll know it’s ready when it looks fluffy and pale yellow. Don’t rush this part. My first batches I creamed for like one minute and they came out dense.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Then add vanilla and beat until it all looks smooth and lighter. Should look almost like frosting at this point.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in another bowl. Don’t skip this step. My grandma always mixed dry ingredients first and she made the best cookies ever.

Add the flour stuff to the butter stuff and mix just until you can’t see white flour anymore. Stop there. Don’t keep mixing till it’s smooth because that makes them tough. Should look a little rough.

Stir in chocolate chips with a wooden spoon. Save some chips to stick on top because that’s what makes them look like the real ones.

Scoop with your big cookie scoop and roll into balls with your hands. They should be tennis ball sized. Put only six on each sheet because they spread like crazy. I learned this the hard way when I put eight on a sheet and they all grew together.

Press each ball down just a little and stick extra chocolate chips on top. Looks more professional.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Here’s the scary part – they should look raw in the middle when you take them out. Edges will be golden but centers look underbaked. They keep cooking on the hot pan. I overbaked my first three batches because I was scared of raw cookies.

Let them sit on the cookie sheet for exactly twenty minutes. Set a timer. I used to try moving them earlier and they fell apart. That twenty minutes on the hot pan is what makes the texture perfect.