The One with the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is the original Nestle Toll House Milk Chocolate Morsel Cookies recipe and it's the best in the entire world:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) Land-O-Lakes butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) Nestle Toll House Milk Chocolate Morsels

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and pure vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

Pan cookie variation: Grease 15 x 10" jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes one huge cookie!

For high altitude baking (5200 feet or above, Provo is 4549 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 tsp. water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cups each. Back drop cookies for 8-10 minutes and pan cookie for 17-19 minutes.

Tips from Paige's Kitchen (which isn't saying much...)
- Use Land-O-Lakes or Tillamook butter - it's the best. I like my cookies on the salty side so I get salted butter. Also, let the butter sticks soften naturally, not in the microwave.
- Use pure vanilla extract - it's more expensive but you can taste the difference.
- I like my cookies undercooked so I only bake them for 7-8 minutes.
- Don't over stir. I haven't perfected this technique yet, but I know it changes the cookie formula if the batter is over or under stirred.
- Make sure all your ingredients are fresh.
- Place your cookies in the freezer and enjoy at your leisure. They taste best frozen, maybe with some ice cream sanwiched between two cookies like this:
I'm off to make some cookies as soon as the butter softens! Mmmm.