All-Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter and sugars at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Add eggs and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla, beating until blended.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; gradually add to butter mixture, beating just until blended. Beat in morsels just until combined. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

Bake at 350° for 10 to 14 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Remove to wire racks, and cool completely (about 15 minutes).

Flavor Cravings: All sorts of goodies can be added to Rebecca's recipe to create other signature cookies. Here are a few of our staff favorites.

Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Cookies: Prepare recipe as directed, beating in 2 cups coarsely crushed pretzel sticks with morsels.

Cranberry-White Chocolate Cookies: Substitute 1 (12-oz.) package white chocolate morsels, 1 (6-oz.) package sweetened dried cranberries, and 1 cup pistachios for chocolate morsels. Proceed as directed.

White Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Cookies: Prepare recipe as directed, beating in 1 (7-oz.) bag white chocolate-covered mini pretzel twists, coarsely crushed, with morsels.

Almond-Toffee Cookies: Substitute 6 (4-oz.) chopped chocolate-covered toffee candy bars and 1 1/2 cups toasted slivered almonds for chocolate morsels. Proceed as directed.

Turtle Cookies: Substitute 1 (7-oz.) package milk chocolate-caramel-pecan clusters, coarsely chopped, and 1 (12-oz.) package dark chocolate morsels for semisweet chocolate morsels. Proceed as directed. Note: For testing purposes only, we used Nestlé Turtles.

Nutty Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies: Decrease salt to 1/2 tsp. Decrease morsels to 1 (12-oz.) package. Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter with butter and sugars, and add 1 cup lightly salted peanuts with morsels. Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. Proceed as directed. (Dough will look a little moist.)

Bake 10 minutes for a soft and chewy cookie or up to 14 minutes for a crisp cookie.