It's a rainy day in Oklahoma, and I needed a little treat to perk up my day. Chocolate chip cookies are probably my most favorite sweet indulgence; I missed these guys quite a bit towards the end of my semester abroad in France. My family and I discovered this recipe for soft chocolate chip cookies a few years ago on All Recipes. We've kept the texture defined by the recipe, but we've tweaked the sugar and butter content to fit our taste.

Ingredients (for 36 cookies)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup of butter, softened
• 5/8 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (scant) white sugar
• 1 package of instant vanilla pudding
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

I used to never believe in softening butter in preparation of baking stuff, but when I found out how much easier it makes mixing process, I now make sure to set the butter out on the counter for at least an hour before I start doing anything. Please, please don't skip this step and work with cold, hard butter; trust me on this.

Once my butter was soft enough (if it gives easily when you press on it), I set about to sift the flour and baking soda together in a pretty big bowl. I recently bought a spring-handle sifter, and it makes this step a bit easier (not too much because it's still a bore to do all of this sifting).

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F before moving on.

Next I creamed together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a large bowl. I used a stand mixer this time around, but I usually use a hand mixture when I'm making these cookies at my friend's apartment. I like to cream it until the mixture is a pale, pale yellow and kind of fluffy.

Then I beat in the instant pudding mix. As soon as that was all settled, I began to blend in the flour mixture. Don't dump the entire mixture in at one time. I added about 1/4 of the flour mixture at a time, and I made sure not to over stir the dough. Once a batch of flour begins to incorporate into the dough, add the next portion of flour mixture. Finally, I stirred in the chocolate chips (and ate one or two of them in the process).

I used a tablespoon to drop the cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I prefer my cookies to have a natural, homemade look, so I didn't shape the dough at all. It was just scoop and plop. I baked the cookies for about 12-13 minutes, until the edges were golden brown.


I just love these cookies. They smell great while baking and taste awesome fresh out of the oven. A delightful snack on a gray day!