*Update* National Chocolate Chip Day…not Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Either way, sounds good to me!

To celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, I thought I’d share my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe with you. There’s really nothing fancy to it and it’s an easy, no-fail, soft cookie recipe. I like to keep either frozen cookie dough or frozen cookies on hand for those quick fixes.

The secret that’s not so secret, is adding pudding to the cookies. You can use chocolate, vanilla, or any other flavor. Chocolate is my favorite (this picture is with vanilla). I do find that the regular pudding is better than the sugar-free/fat-free kinds.

I’m always on the hunt for new cookies recipes. What’s your favorite?

There are a few tricks I’ve learned in making soft cookies:

• use dark brown sugar and more brown sugar than white
• chill the dough before cooking
• use softened but not too soft of butter
• don’t add too much flour!
• let the cookies completely cool on the pan before removing. This keeps the moisture from escaping the bottom of the cookies which makes them crispy.

INGREDIENTS
1 C butter or margarine, softened
¼ C sugar
¾ C light brown sugar
1 (3.4 oz) package instant pudding
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 ¼ C AP flour
12 oz. chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and sugars.
3. Beat in the pudding mix and vanilla.
4. Beat in the eggs until just combined.
5. Gradually stir in flour and baking soda.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips.
7. Place heaping tsp of dough on ungreased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
9. Let completely cool on pan before removing.

NOTES

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.