Pudding cookies

Growing up, my mother was a cookbook collector. I think that's where I get my love of cookbooks from. Oftentimes when she visits me, after Baby goes to sleep, she will pick up one of my cookbooks and curl up on the couch, contentedly reading various preparations for various meals and concoctions. She still owns way more cookbooks than I do, though she hasn't bought one in easily ten or fifteen years. A lot of her cookbooks are those older coil-bound kind from churches and such. One in particular that I remember is her Welcome Wagon cookbook with the blue coil. It had lots of dessert recipes, and that's where the recipe I have for pudding cookies come from (and my peanut butter cookie recipe hails from there as well).

Pudding cookies are interesting - they are a chocolate chip cookie that you add something else to - butterscotch chips, a candy bar chopped up, baking M&M's, whatever you like. This time, I used chopped up Heath bar, one of my favorite toffee candy bars. Another good mix-in would be the new Reese's baking bits, though I haven't tried them out yet. The key ingredient in pudding cookies is...you guessed it, instant pudding. Vanilla instant pudding. They're quite easy to put together, with one exception - since they call for so much flour, you will definitely be needing either a stand mixer or a mixer to put it all together. Here's the recipe! Oh - and it makes a ton, so make sure you're hungry!

Pudding Cookies
Printer-friendly recipe

4 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 and 1/2 cup butter, softened
1 and 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 3.4 oz packages instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs, at room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)
2 cups mix-ins (nuts, candy bars, peanut butter chips, etc.)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Beat in pudding mix until well blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Once the mixture is smooth, slowly add the flour mixture. Be patient, this will take some time and some work.
3. Stir in chips and other mix-ins with wooden spoon. Make sure to blend well.
4. Scoop dough in 1" balls onto parchment paper covered cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. These taste awesome when they're warm.

Oh, and by the way, super big chocolate chips like chunks or jumbo chips taste really good in this recipe. Enjoy!