Gooey, chewy, crunchy, munchy, crispy, lumpy, crumbly, cakey, or soft, there is nothing quite as good as a freshly baked cookie right out of the oven.

I want to share with you Jacques Torres’ well guarded secret. Well, it was a secret until recently.

For some reason, Torres has let it out. Maybe he got tired of people asking for the recipe. Whatever the reason, sure glad we have it.

I present to you the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Oh I can hear you all saying, but Joan, you said you gave up sugar.

Were you not preaching to us about not eating sugar? Hmmmm?

That’s right. I was, and it still holds. I never said you couldn’t make an exception once or twice a year.

I have been totally sugar free for ten full months. No sugar has passed these lips, not even a tootsie roll, not even a stick of gum. I don’t even inhale when the sugar bowl is passed. Except for…you guessed it. Drum roll please…

I ate one superb chocolate chip cookie and I’m glad I did.

Here’s how it happened.

It was the Fourth of July, and my sister decided to bring some treats to her co-workers. In that they all had to work on a holiday, she decided to make them chocolate chip cookies, using this recipe. The recipe has gotten rave reviews and kudos online. So it was a fair bet that they were going to be good cookies.

My sister is a devotee of the good life, just like me. She made these cookies with large chunks of the best dark chocolate she could find. The aroma was other worldly. When the cookies baked, the chocolate melted, but remained soft as the cookies were cooling on the rack. The softness of the chocolate was the kind of “gooey” that gets all over your face, if you’re not careful (shades of being a kid again).

Oh my, what can I say? These cookies are absolutely delicious! The texture is perfect…light, both crispy and chewy and buttery.

I know people have idiosyncrasies when it comes to cookies. Some like them soft and cake-like. I tend to prefer chewy, or crispy and thin.

Many serious pastry chefs seem to have set about developing their perfected version of the famous American classic, but Jacques Torres’ recipe is the best I have tasted to date.

One reviewer of this and other chocolate chip cookie recipes preferred pastry chef, David Lebovitz’s recipe. In that I haven’t tried that one, I can’t give my honest opinion.

It’s hard to imagine a better cookie than the Jacques Torres masterpiece.

Baking is chemistry. It’s much more technical than cooking, where you can ad lib and still arrive at a successful dish. You can experiment with baking too, but keep the fundamentals top of mind.

Here are a few tips to remember if you get the urge to bake cookies.

1. Follow the recipe exactly. Measure out all of your ingredients. Mise en place is a good idea because it keeps you organized and prevents you from forgetting an ingredient. Ingredients should be at room temperature, unless otherwise specified.

2. Use butter. I don’t like margarine or shortening, even when the recipe calls for it. If you’re going to indulge in sweets, then use the best ingredients.

3. More fat=thin crispy cookies. Less fat=puffy, cake-like cookies.

4. Flour: Both bread flour and cake flour have high protein content, and cake flour is high in starch. These flours produce cookies that spread less. Most cookie recipes call for all-purpose flour.

Some people say that there is no appreciable difference between all purpose flour and bread flour. Some chefs would disagree.

Shortbread requires higher flour to liquid ratios to make a crumbly texture.

5. Baking soda and baking powder are the two leavening agents used in cookies.

Baking soda is bicarbonate of soda. Baking powder is a combination of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar. The acidity (cream of tartar) of baking powder produces a puffier cookie.

6. All sugars liquefy when baked.

White sugar makes a crispier cookie than brown sugar. Brown sugar produces a chewy cookie.

7. One or two tablespoons of liquid (eggs, water, milk), will make a flatter, crispier cookie.

8. If you like chewy cookies and are not satisfied with your results with any cookie recipe, try melting the butter before adding it to the sugars. Use brown sugar, honey, or molasses.

Please, this recipe is not intended to encourage you to go on a sugar bender. No way! Eating everything in moderation is fine. If you make these cookies, then limit how many you eat. I honestly ate just one, and it was satisfying.

It wouldn’t be true to my own nature not to share a good thing.

Besides, dark chocolate is good for you, is it not? So what, if you soften your chocolate chip in the oven, inside of a cookie?

It’s important to one’s emotional well-being to enjoy life, and that includes food and drink.

An occasional treat will not harm you.

Of course, if you have a medical reason to abstain from all sugar, then give this recipe to someone else. Or, at least, make it for someone else who doesn’t have those extreme dietary restrictions.

Having fun and enjoying a quality of life are important parts of health and over-all well-being.

Enjoy everything with no feelings of guilt or deprivation, if you can help it.

Sure, be disciplined. But you can still dip into the best there is, whether it is furnishing your home, investing in art, or eating the finest chocolate, or...chocolate chip cookie.

Seek out simple pleasures and enjoy yourself.

My next indulgence of “only one” ultimate chocolate chip cookie will be in June 2013.

Bon appétit!