Thick or thin - bake chocolate chip cookies just how you like them

This Valentines’ Day, I’m baking childhood memories in a chocolate chip cookie. There was nothing quite like eating them fresh from the oven with a big glass of milk after school – or anytime I could get my hands on one.

These American originals were born in 1930 when Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass., decided to add a cut-up chocolate bar to her butter cookies. In 1939, the Nestle company began making chocolate morsels, formulated to keep their shape when baked, with Wakefield’s recipe on the package.

This year, bake up a batch that’s just the way your sweetheart likes best. Here’s how:

Thick and chewy (see recipe): Cool dough spreads more slowly, so use eggs and butter right out of the refrigerator, and let pans cool completely between batches. Use more brown sugar than white for moistness. Line the pans, and let the finished cookies sit on them a few minutes.

Thin and crisp: Soften butter at room temperature and place eggs in warm water for a minute or two. Use more white sugar, less brown. Grease the pans. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and extend baking time to 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately transfer finished cookies to cooling racks.

Crisp outside, soft inside: Add 2 tablespoons corn syrup to the dough.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Cookies

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold

1 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs, cold

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups chocolate chips

2 cups walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Position two oven racks near the center of the oven and heat it to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a baking liner (Silpat).

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars and vanilla at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl sides as necessary.

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda into a medium bowl. At low speed, add dry ingredients to batter, mixing just until combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake 2 sheets at a time, 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown. Switch positions of sheets halfway through baking so cookies brown evenly. Remove sheets from the oven, let sit for 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire cooling racks. Let baking sheets cool completely before baking remaining dough.

Yield: About 3 dozen 3-inch cookies