Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

First of all I want to say a huge Thank You! to everyone who was involved in Bloggers Bake for Hope. Whether you baked, bid, visited, or just passed along the link, you helped raise nearly $3000 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Amazing! I’m proud to have been a part of it!

Putting my Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies up for auction, I realized I still haven’t fulfilled my quest for the perfect easy chocolate chip cookie. The one that doesn’t require 2 types of flour and about 2 pounds of chocolate chips. I’m determined to find a recipe I can whip up without having to run to the store. Plus, with the fair coming up, I need a new recipe to enter! So I’m back on the hunt.

With a little help from Tastespotting, I came across a recipe that sounded like it could be a winner. Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies. I’ve heard of adding pudding to cake mixes to make them moist, but I’ve never tried it in a cookie. So I splurged on a $0.67 box of pudding and used some of the leftover sour cream from taco night to bake some of these up.

If you’re looking for a soft, tender, moist cookie, this is it. Seriously. I baked these things on Monday and they’re STILL soft. On Friday. (How I still have some left on Friday is a miracle in itself.) I will say that straight from the oven I thought they were almost too soft. Like almost underbaked kind of soft. But once they cooled, they firmed up a bit and were fine. The combination of pudding and sour cream—I might have to try that in other cookies to keep those soft and chewy too.

These things are definitely going on my list of cookies to bake for holiday gift boxes. No more dried out cookies after a cross country trip through the postal service! Taste wise, they’re good. Not mindblowingly great, but good. They lack the depth of flavor the Blue Ribbon cookies have, but then again, most others do. It’s a hard standard to live up to, which is why I’m having such a hard time with finding another recipe that comes close. But this one will stay in the keeper pile for now while I continue searching.

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Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
Adapted from Pass the Sushi and Lula
Makes about 2 to 2 1/2 dozen cookies



2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 package instant vanilla pudding
¼ cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 teapsoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add package of vanilla pudding and sour cream, beating until combined. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Gradually add in flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips by hand, or pulse mixer several times to distribute.
4. Using a heaping teaspoon or 1-inch cookie scoop, spoon onto prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating halfway through, until lightly golden around the edges and the center is set, 8 to 11 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet several minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.