Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Of all the chocolate chip cookie recipes this one is a family favorite. It comes together easily and there aren’t any fussy steps. You’ll never guess the secret ingredient! Nope it’s not cream cheese! I’m sure you have this ingredient in your house and if not you need to pick it up at the grocery store and MAKE THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES! This statement has been confirmed by thousands of teenage taste buds.
Why do I love these cookies
Who can resist a chocolate chip cookie? Big, small, crisp, chewy, thick, thin I love them all. Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies are my kids, and their friends, favorite recipes for cookies. Which brings me to my sharing point. The way to a teenagers heart is through their tummy! It’s a scientifically proven fact. It has been proven throughout the ages by moms everywhere. Bake cookies and they will come. My son has a friend, who is the sweetest kid ever, and he loves cookies. If I think there is even a slight possibility that this cookie lover might show up at my house I bake chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes I even send extra cookies to school with my son for “the cookie boy”.
A dear friend of mine, who has four boys…bless her heart, once warned me that the teenage years were going to be hard. “They are not going to like to be around you, BUT if you feed them and their friends, they will want to hang out at your house, and that’s where you want them.” At the time I remember thinking “this could get expensive”, but now that I’m in the middle of it, I really don’t care. I would take out a loan for groceries to have my kiddos and their friends around all the time. These years are going by so fast, I’m savoring them the best way I know how. (This feeding trick, I’m finding out, does not work as well with the girls…they just want to be at the mall 24/7 shopping.)
Gather these ingredients
This is how you make secret ingredient chocolate chip cookies
The secret ingredient gives these cookies a rich caramely flavor and a wonderfully chewy texture! Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Add white sugar and brown sugar to mixing bowl with butter and mix on medium high until light and fluffy. You can use cold butter, or room temperature butter. Make sure to cream butter well.
Add vanilla. Then add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl after each.
Add “secret ingredient” one 3 ounce package of instant vanilla pudding powder. Mix on medium-high speed until light incorporated.
Measure and combine flour, salt, and baking soda together in a measuring cup, gradually add dry ingredients to the butter sugar mixture. Mix until combined. If using a stand mixer remove bowl from stand for the next step.
Fold in your choice of add ins with a large spatula. This time I added mini M&M’s and mini semi sweet chocolate chips. You can add whatever your heart desires.
To get a perfectly round cookie make sure to scoop out and scrape off excess dough line up your cookie dough balls on parchment lined cookie sheet.
You can make these cookies larger, I prefer to make them smaller, I used a 1 tablespoon scoop for these cookies. Why do I prefer them smaller? So I can eat more of them of course!
Baking time is about 10 minutes. Remove from oven when the edges are golden brown as in photo below! Let them rest for a few minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool. Oh my the chewy edges and the soft centers will be hard to resist. One for me, one for the cooling rack.
These cookies keep well stored in an airtight container, and if there happen to be any left after a few days, just pop one in the microwave for 10 seconds and it will taste just like fresh out of the oven!
Tips and Variations
- Next Level – a tiny pinch of sea salt sprinkled on top of chocolate chip cookies makes these next level delicious!
- Special Ingredient – The instant pudding is the key to this perfect cookie! Don’t be afraid to switch it up; try white chocolate instant pudding, butterscotch instant pudding, chocolate instant pudding they are deliver the perfect cookie!
- Add-ins – I used mini semi sweet chocolate chips and mini M&Ms, however you can add in whatever your heart desires; chocolate chunks, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, milk chocolate, well you get the idea. Have fun!
More cookie deliciousness
- Molasses Cookies rolled in crunchy raw sugar these chewy cookies are so good with a cup of coffee!
- Monster Cookies gluten free and full of all oatmeal, peanut butter and all the chocolate chips your heart desires!
- Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chips Bars need I say more? drool….
- Triple Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Just curious….
Do you love soft chocolate chip cookies, or a chewier cookie, or crispy cookies. If you answered yes to the soft and chewy then Make a batch of these amazing cookies, only a few simple steps to make this easy recipe! You will not regret it. XOX, Sheila
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Butter softened
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 2 Eggs
- 1 3.4 ounce Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 2 1/4 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 cups Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips add 2 cups of whatever chocolate add in you like
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Blend butter, and sugars in mixing bowl until light and fluffy 3-5 minutes.
- Add vanilla and eggs blend well, give the bowl a scrape and add instant pudding blend until just combined.
- Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in measuring cup add gradually to mixing bowl. Mix until just combine, do not over mix.
- Fold in chocolate chips with large spatula. (This batter is thick and gooey.)
- Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop drop cookie dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, bake for 10 minutes. or until just starting to brown around the edges. Remove and let set on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Are these like Subway cookies??? Please say YES!
I’m not sure I’ve never had a Subway cookie, but they are darn good…so I’ll say Yes! ; D
Yummy! I had my girls (ages 8 and 10) make these cookies after school yesterday. They could do everything except stir in the chocolate chips at the end (they weren’t strong enough to stir that super heavy dough). Our family LOVES chewy cookies (as opposed to crispy!) so these are our new favorite! I made smaller cookies (so I ended up with around 50 of them)…which MIGHT explain how we managed to eat 20 of them in less than 24 hours.
Thank you for this recipe. I just made these cookies, and I would make them again. Mine look more puffy than yours, but they taste good. Mine look like Subway cookies. : (
I’m glad you liked them. This dough gets thick and sticky, I wondered if you gave them a little press before you baked if they would spread out more while baking.
I’m sure that that would make them more flat. I refrigerated the dough for a while before I baked them, so the dough wasn’t sticky at all.
I have used the pudding mix in cakes and breads but never thought to put it in cookies! This is going to be tested out in my kitchen shortly.
Sheila! I totally agree. The best way to connect with and entice the teens to our house is with food! We don’t have electronic games or anything interesting like that our house but we have the best food and I always have homemade cookies on hand. Your pictures look great.
Hi Sheila,
Oh these cookies look so good – – – and I think I will have to make some for my baby this weekend (he’s 13…) But sorry I did not get a chance to participate in your meals 4 sharing Friday but my baby broke his right hand in Tae kwon do sparing match, 🙁 so I have been doing a lot of special mothering and showering him with TLC. But these cookies are going to make him feel much better! Thank you for sharing. (He’s doing well and it was a small break – praise God!)
And yes – – – feeding boys really is the secret to keeping them around the house. On Thursday, my son had a friend over who I think – like the cookie fella – doesn’t get a lot of love from the kitchen so I made a big batch of meatballs. My son had some but his friend inhaled them. It made me so happy to watch him eat! He usually comes over on Thursdays and as he was leaving, he asked me what I was making next week. Too cute! I think there will be two batches of your cookies in my future!
Have a great weekend.
Love,
Mary
My man LOVES Chocolate Chip Cookies… as in LOVES them! Can’t wait to try these. Anxious to see all the great links this week!!!
Wowza, those are some very chippie cookies! I love choc chip cookies that aren’t stingy with the chocolate! 🙂