Friday Favorites

It's Friday again, which means I get to pick a favorite subject to do a post on. So, let me think for a minute...(hmmmm)...(I know)...FOOD!! I love food. Especially, the kind with lots of sugar and chocolate in it. (I don't know...maybe I was deprived as a growing gymnast so I'm just trying to make up for it now! (probably not, since my grandma was always baking something yummy!)) Fruits and veges have their place too, but since this is a "favorites" post I'm gonna have to give way to the dark side and share a yummy, Yummy, YUMMY, cookie recipe that I just found. Jackee...this should be right up your alley!

I found this recipe at www.allrecipes.com and it was submitted by Debbi Borsick. Don't know who she is, but I could just run up and give her a huge hug for this recipe...LOVE it! I've made the cookies twice now...with a little variation, so I'll give you the original recipe and then share the variations on it afterwards!

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

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

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. 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.
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.


Now I'm not usually one to actually make my cookies from scratch, but I'm trying to make my dollar stretch a little farther so I figured I could cut the budget by ridding myself of the unnecessary cost of pre-made cookie dough. I usually just buy the ready made Nestle Tollhouse dough because normally I hate the way my cookies turn out, BUT, this recipe has given me hope! Hope that I won't need to buy my cookie dough anymore...because I've finally found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I like! This is a cookie that has a little bit of crunch on the edge, but is nice and soft in the middle...and they stay soft after they cool...even after a couple of days! (if they last that long!)

Anyway...now for a few alterations and variations...

Alterations:
*use more vanilla - I would suggest 2 tablespoons instead of just 2 teaspoons
(this was a suggestion made by one of the people on allrecipes...not me (I'm not that ingenious of a baker/cook) - tried the regular vanilla with one batch of cookies, and then tried increasing it with another batch of cookies and liked the taste much better with more vanilla!)

Variation:
*try it using a different flavor of pudding - I made it once with vanilla pudding and loved it. Then I tried it with chocolate pudding (told ya I can't pass up chocolate)...again very yummy. I bet white chocolate pudding would be yummy...maybe butterscotch pudding?? My favorite of my experiments was combining the vanilla pudding cookie dough with the chocolate pudding cookie dough. I made half 'n half cookies...I called them Ebony and Ivory cookies (look how original I was being!! LOL!)

Quick Notes:
-Do not over bake these cookies! (I dare say...leave them in for 12 min. max!...they may not look completely done, but they are!
-When making the dough, combine the sugar and butter, then slowly add in the pudding mix until it is completely mixed into the sugar/butter combo...then add your eggs and vanilla.
-This recipe makes a lot as it is written (about 6 doz.) so I just made half the recipe...actually half vanilla, half chocolate and then combined them, so I guess I got tons anyhow. Halfing the recipe works just fine though!

Enjoy!!...and come back and tell me what you thought of them after you make and EAT them all!