Recipe: Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

This weekend to celebrate the 4th the boys and I made our favorite cookie recipe. I let the boys pick what type of cookies they wanted and the result was dark chocolate heaven. It’s been a long time since I posted a recipe, too long actually, but this one I just had to share.

Instead of the semisweet chocolate chips and walnuts, we added 4 cups of dark chocolate chips, one 12 oz bag of dark chocolate M&M’s and slivered almonds. Oh my these cookies turned out so delish! My little guys definitely know how to cook!

A note about this recipe though, it is huge. We always make golf ball size cookies and end up with 12 to 13 dozen cookies. I freeze the extra cookie dough in rolled balls in batches of 12 so I can pull and bake a dozen cookies whenever I want.

The cookie dough is good for about 3 months in the freezer so there is plenty of time to use it all. Bake time for the frozen dough is the same and the fresh dough, 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and if you have little ones they will love helping you make this recipe.

Recipe courtesy of All Recipes.com

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (see note below)
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

NOTE: A few readers at All Recipes recommended using 2 tablespoons of vanilla instead of 2 teaspoons. I’ve tried it both way and we also prefer using 2 tablespoons. It brings out such a wonderful flavor and is just what the cookies need.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.