Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

I've seen this chocolate chip cookie recipe floating around on the internet for awhile. It seemed to be calling my name every where I looked. Then I got an email from my sister with the same recipe! I think the universe was telling me that I really needed to try these cookies. My sister tried them first and her reviews were so good ( that she threw all her other chocolate chip cookie recipes away! As soon as I heard that, I stopped what I was doing and made these amazing little cookies.  The secret to them is that they have a package of vanilla pudding in them. It makes them soft and sweet and oh so delicious. You will love these! 

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
adapted from Kraft Kitchens

Makes 3 dozen cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup  packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 pkg.  (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1 tsp. vanilla

2   eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

2-1/4 cups  flour

1 pkg. (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

*optional 1/2 tsp salt, OR you can sprinkle sea salt on top of cookie dough balls.

Heat oven to 375°F. Beat butter, sugars, dry pudding mix and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add eggs and baking soda *(and salt if desired); mix well. Gradually beat in flour. Stir in chocolate. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets. Bake 7 to 9 min. or until golden brown. Cool 3 min. on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

*The recipe does not call for any salt. If you like that little saltiness to your chocolate chip cookies, just add a 1/2 tsp of salt to your dough. Or you can do what I love to do with all my chocolate chip cookies, sprinkle a little sea salt on top! 

**Also, feel free to switch up the pudding mixes to your liking. Try a butterscotch pudding with butterscotch chips. I think next time I might try a chocolate pudding mix!

Top Chef Chocolate Chip Cookies

My sister is helping me on this "chocolate chip cookie quest" I am on. She was watching Top Chef and they just so happened to make a great chocolate chip cookie! She tried and tested them, and here were her results. She says...

 Alright here's the DL on the Top Chef cookies:

• Easy to make.
• Age well.
• Chewy and moist.
• Flat.
• Not a "cookie dough" recipe. (Meaning the cookie dough isn't so good that you could just sit and eat it.)
• They were good warm. Very chewy and gooey.  But I prefer them completely cooled.

Here's her documented proof she made them! They look so good!

  

Top Chef Chocolate Chip Cookie

adapted from Top Chef Erika Davis

Makes about 3 dozen

• ¾ c sugar
• ¾ c brown sugar
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ lb butter
• 2 ½ c AP flour
• 2 eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 ½ c chocolate chips (*I used milk chocolate and only 1 cup)

Cream the butter, sugars, eggs together then add the vanilla, salt and baking soda. Scrape the sides and add the baking powder and flour. Mix till incorporated and add the chocolate chips just till mixed. Scoop with a Tablespoon and bake at 350 for 10-12 min.

Best, Big, Fat, Chewy, Chocolate Chip Cookie

My quest continues on for the perfect chocolate chip cookie! The next cookie I tried was allrecipes.com Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie. Well, with a name like that, how could I NOT try it?

The end results were great! The texture of the cookie was the best texture of any great chocolate chip cookie I've ever had, maybe even the best! The title says it all! As for the taste, if I'm really being critical here, it wasn't AS good as the above cookie...just initially though. They aged very well! Don't get me wrong, the taste was really good, delicious even, but if I'm comparing it to the above cookie, then I'd have to say the first cookie's taste was a little more of what I like (caramely/toffee-ish), but this texture was better. So again, the quest for the best chocolate chip cookie is going to be fierce. I would say we're at a tie right now!

I would definitely make these again, and oh I will. They were much more quick to make than the above cookie. But again, the cookie dough itself wasn't fabulous, for all those cookie dough eaters out there. I ended up refrigerating my dough for a couple of hours, because I had to run some errands, and I think I liked the batch that was refrigerated for a couple hours better! Just a fun little side not there. I have heard though, that refrigerating cookie dough for 36 hours is the secret to the best chocolate chip cookie ever. (Stay tuned for another recipe that calls for just that!)

Best, Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

adapted from allrecipes.com Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Makes 16 giant cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (* I don't think I'll use the full 2 cups next time, just personal preference, I like a little more cookie to chip ratio.)
• *sea salt (*this is my secret ingredient, I sprinkled some sea salt on top of my cookies....delish!)

See the sea salt crystals?

• 
  
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup (*yep 1/4 cup for that big, BIG, chocolate chip cookie. I did try a regular size batch, and I even liked them better than the big size. Whatever you like!) at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. (*If doing bigger size, only room for 6 cookies on a sheet!) Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, (*or 7-8 min for regular size) until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
• Look at the size of these things!

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie?

I ended the title of this post with a question mark because I'm on a quest. A quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. For me that means a little crispy around the outside edges, and soft and chewy in the middle. This one fits the bill to a T, but I have found a couple other recipes I am going to compare it too. So stay tuned for other posts to see how it compares to the others. So for right now I could say it's the perfect chocolate chip cookie, but I want to make sure!

This one was a lot of fun to make, it's definitely not your regular chocolate chip cookie recipe. They are a little bit more work, and have some interesting techniques, but that's what I like about it! It's probably not one I'd use if I have to hurry and make a batch in 20 minutes, or if I wanted to make 6 dozen or something. And the cookie dough isn't something I could just eat, so be aware of that. The end results were darn good and my husband ranked them in his top cookies of all time. Whoa.... :) I seem to love most chocolate chip cookie recipes, but this one ranks up there pretty high. We'll see how it measures up to the others! Give them a try. You certainly won't be disappointed! 

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from crumblycookie.net by Bridget and Cook's Illustrated

1¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar (I only had light, so I used light)
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Do not overcook! Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

(It was more dark golden before the picture, but the unmelted butter has changed the color a bit. You can really tell when it begins to change. It does have a very distinct aroma, almost like peanut brittle (in my opinion), just watch it closely.)

 Add both sugars, salt and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips, giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain. Scoop cookie dough with a tablespoon and place on cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a sheet. Bake cookies until golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 7-9 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Yum!