The Easiest, Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies You'll Ever Have!

Today I'm going to give you something for which you'll thank me forever; I'm going to give you the easiest, best chocolate chip cookie recipe you'll ever have.  Now, I do ask that you refrain from giving this recipe to anyone else because it's a treasured family recipe - passed down through generations, from my great great grandmother (or my Mom found it in a magazine when I was a teen....either way, you'll thank me).  If you don't like soft, gooey chocolate chip cookies, then this recipe is not for you.  If you want your cookies with a crisp bottom, then this recipe is not for you.  With that said, here's the recipe!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3.4 oz. package vanilla instant pudding mix
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I only use one cup)
nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and set aside.

2. Using a mixer, beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add in pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla extract. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoons onto prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until slight golden and set. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely. (hahaha yeah right!  Let's be honest here, they'll be half gone before you can get them to the rack)

 The beauty of these cookies lies in the addition of the instant pudding; this keeps the cookies soft and moist as long as you can keep them in your cookie jar (which admittedly, is probably not very long, but if, by some miracle, they lasted a week, they'd still be soft and yummy).  The second amazing benefit from using instant pudding?  You can substitute any darned flavor of pudding you want for the vanilla and substitute any kind of chips or fruit for the chocolate chips!!  Just think of the possibilities!  Chocolate cookies with butterscotch chips, coconut cream with vanilla chips, pumpkin spice with chocolate chips!  The combinations boggle the mind!  Let me know what combinations you've come up with!