Chocolate Chip Vanilla Pudding Cookies

Jason's parents made the trek from Texas to North Carolina a few weekends ago to visit us in our new home. I wanted to make sure they were comfortable and well fed (of course!) so I made a point to prepare some snacks to have on hand. I put a basket of goodies in their room plus left stuff out on the counter. I knew we needed some cookies (when we do NOT need cookies?!) so I took the opportunity to try out the pudding cookies everyone in the blogosphere has been raving about.

{I mentioned previously that I try out recipes on guests...}

Using pudding mix in your cookies promised to make some serious soft baked cookies... and it definitely delivered! Even a week later, they were still as soft as they were the day they were baked. The flavor of the pudding is very subtle - perhaps not even note worthy - but I've only tried vanilla (a basic flavor component to chocolate chip cookies anyways!) so I'll have to try a few more flavors before claiming an official opinion on that :)

These cookies got 2 thumbs up from us all - thankfully, including our guests! - and I loved that it made a large batch so we never ran low.

Have you tried pudding cookies yet? What flavor combo is your fave?

I am weird and don't like gobs of chocolate chips in my cookies so I only used 1 cup for the entire batch but feel free to up it to 2 cups!

Chocolate Chip Vanilla Pudding Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 package vanilla instant pudding mix (3.4 ounce size)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Using a hand mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a bowl until creamy. Add in the dry pudding mix,eggs, and vanilla extract and mix until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, combine your flour, baking soda, and salt.

Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet. 

Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until slightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool on pan for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. 

Source: adapted from The Best Blog Recipes