Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every year for Christmas I've helped make a ton of cookies. This is something that has happened in my family since before I can remember participating. I would spend a weekend at my grandparents' house helping them make hundreds of cookies. The cookies would then be separated into nice containers and distributed. Of course, plenty would be left over for us to enjoy. In the past few years, the amount of cookies produced has decreased, but the yearly tradition of spending at least a day in the kitchen baking continues. As a result, a single batch of cookies now seems like a foolishly small quantity.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, this post marks the first in my new Saturday series of posts. The series will present the recipes and directions for making all of the Christmas Cookies I will be making this year! Right now the list has 13 types of cookies, two of which have already been posted (butter cookies & oatmeal). I'll post plenty of pictures in December showing my day of baking and the beautiful layout of cookies cooling on the table.

First up: Chocolate chip cookies!

When I make chocolate chips, I usually follow the recipe on the back of the bag of Nestle Chocolate Chips. The only variation I tend to make is that I add extra flour until the cookie dough isn't very sticky. Within the past year, I learned that if you add a box of vanilla pudding mix to the recipe, then the cookies will stay soft. This does work and most people seem to like the cookies this way. It changes the flavor of the cookie some, but that isn't too noticeable.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

2 1/4 C flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt (optional and only if you use unsalted butter!)

1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 C butter, softened

3/4 C granulated sugar

3/4 C brown sugar, packed

1 t vanilla extract

2 large eggs

12-oz package of Nestle Toll House Chocolate chips

First, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix.

Place the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and beat together until creamy.

Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Slowly stir in the flour mixture. I poured in half of the flour mixture and stirred until combined and repeated with the second half.

Add the delicious chocolate chips. Stir until they seem evenly distributed into the dough.

Place spoonfuls of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before relocating the cookies to a cooling rack.