This recipe is based on one called Award Winning Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies. I was inspired to make it after seeing it (many years ago) on Clara Bakes. She found it on Allrecipes.com. The headnote on the recipe mentions that the member's daughter, Tegan, entered the cookies into a contest and won an award.
First Impression
The first time I made these cookies I found them to be a little cakey for my personal tastes. They were good, just very soft and not very brown. That didn't stop me from making them again.
Second Impression
The second time I made them I cut the recipe in half and used a half box of pudding. Now were they award winning? Once again, I found them a little bit on the cakey side, but everyone else loved them. So what to do? Make them again! I've been making them over and over through the years using half a box of pudding leftover from Small Batch Eclair Cake. Sometimes I make them less cakey by using a smaller egg or just beating the egg and discarding a little of it.
The Final Version and Tips
My cookies are less cakey when I use very soft butter. I also try not to cream the butter and sugar very long, but rather just until blended and creamy. Packing the brown sugar into the measuring spoons/cups and weighing at least 75 grams helps. And finally, cutting the egg back a tad is what really seems to help. So try to use a medium size egg or only about 45 to 48 grams.
Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pudding Mix
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose plus a tablespoon (140 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter,softened (114 grams)
- 6 tablespoons brown sugar (75-80 grams)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (25 grams)
- ½ box of the 4 serving size instant vanilla pudding mix (about 48 grams)
- 1 medium egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and both sugars with an electric mixer (or by hand if your butter is very soft) just until blended. Beat in the pudding mix. When well mixed, add the vanilla and egg and stir until blended.
- Add the flour mixture to the batter and stir until it is almost fully mixed. Add chocolate chips and continue stirring until flour disappears.
- Using a medium size scoop, shape dough into mounds (you should get around 16) and chill the mounds (covered) on a dinner plate until ready to bake or bake immediately.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies appear slightly browned around the edges and small cracks have formed. If you'd like your cookies paler, you can bake them at a lower temp. For browner cookies, you may even find you like them better baked at 400 for 10-12 minutes. The pudding keeps these cookies soft, so you'll always have soft insides even if the crust is very brown.
Niki says
Anna, I actually used Trader Joe's vanilla pudding mix. That stuff is yum. And I just made the cookies on Wed, and have been way busy lately, so I'm gonna try to post mine real soon! I'll let you know!
Linda says
Just wondering...do you think it would make any difference in the final product (either in the sugar cookies or chocolate chip) if you used a pudding mix that needs to be cooked as opposed to instant? I'm thinking that the "to be cooked" kind might not leave as much of an aftertaste than the instant does.
Niki says
My pudding chocolate chip cookie recipe is a wee bit different, but I love them. Maybe b/c I don't think the vanilla taste fake. And I am very hardcore about fake flavorings. But it could also be the brand you use...
Sue says
Your feelings about them sum up my feelings about them.
Cheryl says
You never know unless you try, right? 🙂 I have an award for you at my site:)
shelly (cookies and cups) says
I totally agree with you on the artificial flavor pudding tends to give, and like you my tastes have changed as well!!
Erin F. says
I make these cookies a lot, and I love them! I usually use chocolate pudding though, with a whole bag of semi-sweet chocolate chunks and half a bag of white chocolate chips. I find them really easy to make, and they bake up pretty thick and soft.
HeartofGlass says
Perhaps the solution is to freeze them as Chipwiches--you could put peanut butter swirl ice cream between some of them for the holiday!
Clara Curtis says
yeah, they were almost waaay too cakey when I first took them out of the oven. About a day later they were perfect, texture-wise.
I tried it with chocolate pudding and mini M&Ms last week, they were really pretty good.
Stephanie says
I agree with the the reviews of how the texture changes with the addition of pudding mix. My family likes the more soft, chewy texture and adding pudding, I have found, seems to make them too cakey for us. They certainly weren't horrible, just not a favorite. 🙂
Anna says
I think they just need a little time to sit. I'm trying one 5 hours later and they seem denser and more satisfying. I can see why they are popular.
Julie says
I was opposed to even trying the pudding choc chip cookies and finally I did and everyone LOVES them. I agree about the texture/cakiness of them... not my favorite but is often requested. Not being my favorite is a good thing for me so I don't fight it and I just make them - easier for me to resist dough/cookies...
Jeanette says
I too tried the allrecipes.com version a while back. It got such great reviews on the site I figured they would be outstanding. I didn't care for them. It was more of a texture thing rather than taste. They seemed to taste too "cakey" for my liking.
mags says
I use a full box (the 4 serving size) of chocolate pudding mix- and not the sugar free kind. I use a cup of mini choc chips with a handful of white choc chips. No complaints from anyone about these!
Ashley says
I used to swear by Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies for a while. Everyone I made them for loved how long they stay soft for. However, they're a bit cakey for me, and I prefer a different texture. My favorite cookie of all time is one I found via your website, the Cook's Illustrated Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. Love those! The nice thing about pudding cookies is you can use various flavors and chips.
Katrina says
Yep, they're just okay for me, too. But definitely a good way to use up half a box of pudding. Where did the other half go? I never use just half a box of pudding. (I guess that's probably just the size of our families.)