Name: Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened ); 1/2 cup shortening (butter flavored or regular ); 3/4 cup granulated white sugar; 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 2 large eggs; 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1/8 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 3.4 ounce instant vanilla pudding mix; 12 ounce semisweet chocolate chips

I have been known to make a batch of these Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies and portion them out to keep in the freezer. They are easy to make, bake up in 10 minutes, and honestly everyone loves them!

Why we love this cookie

I’ve literally made hundreds of cookies using this recipe. I’ve played around with different sugars, omitting and including baking powder, butter vs. shortening, and so on. Once I settled on this one, we were hooked. Keeping frozen cookie dough around is convenient, but less dangerous than baking up the entire batch!

Ingredients and baking tips for these cookies

This recipe uses unsalted butter as well as shortening. If you prefer to replace the shortening with butter, you can substitute equal amounts.
Like with most cookie recipes, you will use both granulated white sugar and light brown sugar.
While a standard chocolate chip cookie uses all-purpose flour, if you have bread flour in your pantry you can use that instead!
What makes these “pudding cookies” is because you are adding a package of instant vanilla pudding mix to the dough.
While we usually use semisweet chocolate chips, any other chocolate chip variety or flavor can be substituted.

Helpful Baking Tip for Success

I’ve used chocolate chips, mint chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and chocolate chunks, among others.
You can substitute some of the flour with cocoa to make a chocolate version just like I did with my chocolate peanut butter cookies.
This recipe makes 31 jumbo cookies using an ice cream scoop or 48-60 regular sized cookies, depending on the size of your cookie scoop.
Softened butter does not mean the butter should be soft. Softened butter is butter that has been removed from the fridge and allowed to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Enough to take the chill off.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a mixer bowl outfitted with paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on low until bound together, then on medium-high until smooth and fluffy.
Add vanilla, continue beating, then add one egg.

Beat until combined, then add the other egg and beat until fluffy.
In a large bowl, stir or whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pudding mix.

Turn mixer to low and gradually mix the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture until well blended.
Use a wooden spoon or sturdy rubber spatula to stir in chocolate chips.

For regular sized cookies:

Makes 48-60 cookies.

Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake in a preheated oven for 8-11 minutes, until very light golden brown.
Remove from oven; allow cookies to cool 5 minutes on baking sheets before removing them to wire racks to cool completely.

For jumbo cookies (4″ cookies):

Makes 30-32 jumbo cookies.

Use an ice cream scoop to measure out dough.
Roll dough ball in hands and flatten gently with fingers.
Place 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake in a preheated oven for 11-13 minutes, until very light golden brown.
Remove from oven; allow cookies to cool 7-8 minutes on baking sheets before removing them to wire racks to cool completely.

To freeze cookie dough:

Prepare cookie dough as directed in recipe.
Measure out cookies as indicated above, and place unbaked cookie discs on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Position the cookies as close together as you can without them touching.
Place the filled cookie sheet into the freezer and “flash freeze” for 2-3 hours. (Flash freezing allows the food to become frozen as individual pieces. This way when they are placed together in a bag they will not stick to each other in a bog blob.)
Remove the frozen cookies from the cookie sheets and place them into a freezer bag.

To bake frozen cookie dough

To bake, preheat oven to 350 F.
Place frozen cookies onto cookie sheet and bake 11-14 minutes.
You can allow the cookies to thaw on the sheet first if you like; then bake according to the original recipe instructions.

Fair warning, you will want to eat these cookies while hot. But lifting them too early will cause them to break apart. Allow them to cool enough that they will stay together before diving into that melty goodness. You’re welcome.

More Cookie recipes

This post originally appeared here on May 20, 2011. We’ve updated this post after re-testing (and eating!) this recipe and adding new photos and tips.

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Amanda Davis

President at Amanda's Creative Studio, Inc.

Amanda Davis is the entrepreneurial mom of four grown children and four step children. She and her husband, Chef Antoine, love to cook together creating recipes for this blog. Amanda also make kid's crafts and creates decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen and has appeared online and in print publications many times over the years. She is also a craft book author five times over and product developer as well as the owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com. You can find her on social media by using the buttons to the left!