My amazing friend, Allegra, makes THE BEST chocolate chip cookies on the planet. I know, I know, you have probably read a million such claims, just as I have. In fact, I cannot count how many times I have switched favorites, but this time it is different. I have reached chocolate chip cookie nirvana and I shall never stray again. Try it yourself: go to her site, get her recipe, and make these cookies. You won't be sorry.
I always use white whole wheat flour, Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, and add a cup of oats for the "optional add-in".
The dough itself is so darn good that I have been instructed to save my husband a blob of raw dough if I make them while he is at work. I also have flattened a few blobs, frozen them, and broken them up into store-bought vanilla ice cream to create the most amazing chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. YUM.
I usually use my smallest cookie scoop so I get a greater number of cookies. I can easily get 72+ cookies out of a full batch.
If you bake the cookies right after making the dough, they spread out a bit (as below), so you will need to leave more space between the blobs and fill at least 5 cookie sheets. However, if the dough is chilled, the cookies will have a smaller diameter, be thicker, and should be able to squeeze onto 4 cookie sheets. You can leave the dough in the fridge for days (there is even a school of thought that it improves with time) or do what Allegra does and roll it into a log, freeze it, and cut chunks off when you need a fresh cookie fix.
I like to bake mine until they are evenly browned so they retain their crunch day after day (not that they will last that long).