I am and always have been a rule follower.
I rarely if ever got in trouble in school, and I still read instructions before completing a form or assembling a piece of furniture.
For years, I was that way with recipes, too. I followed the directions to the letter. But I have had the good fortune to write this column every week for over eight years now, and one thing I’ve learned about recipes is that the rules are meant to be broken.
That was definitely the case for this week’s recipe. I didn’t sift the flour and baking soda before adding it to the batter. I didn’t use vanilla pudding. I added extra vanilla extract. I grabbed margarine instead of butter, since that was what I had on hand.
And you know what? My cookies still turned out great, so I’m sharing this recipe with you this week so you can be a rule breaker, too.
This comes from the blog “I am a Honey Bee.” You can find the original post at https://iamahoneybee.com/2014/01/09/chocolate-chip-pudding-cookies/. I changed this up by substituting in different flavors from the original and doubling the vanilla.
Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3.4 ounces instant pudding I used chocolate
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 16 ounces chocolate chips I used semi-sweet
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars until they’re light and fluffy—about two minutes. Beat in the pudding mixture. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add in the flour and baking soda and beat until everything is mixed well.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Roll the dough into one-inch balls or scoop it out with a one-inch baking scoop and place them about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for eight to 10 minutes or until the cookies are set in the middle. Once the cookies have cooled for about five minutes, transfer them to an airtight container.
Despite using the chocolate pudding, these weren’t overly sweet or decadent. They were just really good, soft cookies. We shared some with some friends of ours, and they gave them two thumbs up, too.
And these are infinitely customizable. Go look at the instant pudding in your local grocery store and get creative with your flavor combos. Maybe lemon and white chocolate chips? Coconut with almonds? Butterscotch and dark chocolate?
There are many, many times that being a rule follower is a wonderful trait to have, and believe me, it keeps you out of trouble a lot in life. But in this case, I’d say go ahead and live on the wild side a little. I’m not quite ready to be a rebel without a cause, but cookies are a cause I can get behind.
This piece first appeared in print on March 18, 2021.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
