Rejoice! It's National Chocolate Chip Day!

Marcus Tullis
As if anyone needed an excuse to bake a batch right now. Whether your calendars are marked or not, May 15th means National Chocolate Chip Day. In honor of our favorite chocolatey morsels on this most gooey occasion, we are turning the spotlight on our favorite way to use chocolate chips: the good, old-fashioned chocolate chip cookie. Here are a few celebration-worthy takes on the classic:
A calculated dose of salt creates the best contrast for a cookie that’s otherwise sweet through and through. Mini Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cookies with Maldon Sea Salt (pictured above) include a sprinkle of straight-from-the-sea flakes that melt in your mouth.

On this oh-so-chocolatey day, a raisin has no place, not even in an oatmeal cookie. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are a textural dream, especially scattered with mini chocolate chips.

Giada’s Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies aren’t just about the Nutella-style flavor combination. Finely chopped toffee gives these cookies a deep, caramelized chewiness.

Kathryn Cooper
Before you fold overripe bananas into yet another loaf of banana bread, use this day as an excuse for pulling Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies out of the oven instead.

Photographer:Marcus Tullis
For a cookie so pleasantly crispy you can hear the crunch, Extra Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies are the way to go. Puffed rice cereal gives these cookies extra bite while keeping them ultra-thin.
And, hey, if your chocolate chip cookie cravings are so real you can’t even make it to the oven, do it the safe way. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles have all the pre-baked splendor without all that, ahem, salmonella.