Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies: A Little Something Special

My intern ate five of these cookies in one sitting yesterday. They are seriously addictive, which is why I brought them into work. I knew that I could not be trusted to have them in my apartment any longer. There's just something about chocolate chip cookies.

It used to be that way with the inspiration for this cookie, too.  The chocolate chip pudding served at my summer camp was (and likely still is) the stuff of legends. I don’t know what it was about this dessert- it was such a humble combination of mass-produced vanilla pudding with chocolate chips and a bit of Reddi-Whip whipped cream, but we went wild for the stuff. I’m talking seconds, thirds, “just let me lick the entire bowl” wild. Our counselors would have to ration it out equally, and we would race back into the kitchen to see if they’d have any extras to dole out. 

It was a camp friend of mine, years later in college, who first introduced me to the vanilla pudding meets chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I thought it was genius then, and she would gift me an entire box of the addictive little monsters from time to time. It wasn’t until this past week, though, that I tried my own hand at adding vanilla pudding mix to chocolate chip cookies.

It remains a fantastic idea. Remember those “soft-batch” packaged cookies that came to be very popular a few years ago?  I recall that along with the movie Clueless and cheetos, they were mainstays on the slumber party scene. These are like those cookies, expect a million times better. 

Soft is an understatement. The cookie dough comes together with a noticeably silky and smooth texture. They bake up like little pillow-y clouds of vanilla-scented heaven, dotted with bittersweet chocolate chips.  Their softness lasted for a few days, and I suspect would have lasted longer, if the cookies themselves had.  While I have previously blogged about another favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (of the brown butter variety), this one is now a firm contender for my #1 cookie, a title I don’t give out freely.  

Huckins girls and summer camp lovers of all ages, here’s a hint. While you can’t send chocolate chip pudding to each other in the US Mail throughout that long, cold winter—these chocolate chip pudding cookies make for an excellent care package.  Just don’t send them to your friends while they’re AT camp. You know that’s against the rules! 

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

Adapted from Natalie's Killer Cuisine 
yield: 24-30 cookies, depending on size

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups AP Flour
1 packed of vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a mixer, cream together the butter and both the white and brown sugars, about three minutes.  The mix should be light and fluffy. Next add the eggs (one at a time) and the vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, dry pudding mix, baking soda and salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Toss in the chocolate chips and combine again.

Prepare your baking sheet with either pan spray or parchment paper. Scoop out tablespoon sized scoops and roll in a ball, leaving space between each cookie.

Depending on the size of your cookie, bake them for 8-12 minutes (check around 8 minutes, cookies should just start to show a bit of golden color- you don’t want to overbake these, they’ll lose that great softness!) Remove from the oven. Let cool on the baking sheet 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. ENJOY!