Rainy Day Cookies

My parents were visiting last weekend to celebrate my Mom's birthday. We had a great time and got to relive a favorite childhood tradition - rainy day cookie making. A drizzly day in NYC is not a fun day for exploring the city, so after brunch we cut our loses, and headed to the grocery store for cookie making goods. We decided on a family favorite - Pudding Chip Cookies. After all my ranting and raving about limiting processed foods, you will just have to let this one slide, its too good to pass up. This is a twist on a basic Chocolate Chip cookie recipe and the number one rule is to UNDERCOOK the cookies. This means if you open the oven and say, "hmm maybe a little longer?" That should automatically translate into, "Take them out!"

Here's how it goes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Start with two sticks butter (the real stuff!). Works best if softened, but if your butter happens to be cold at the moment, put it on a wooden cutting board and whack it (while still wrapped in its package) with a rolling pin (or whatever you can find) until it is softer.

Cream the butter with 2 eggs, 1/4 cup white sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. When creamy, add 3/4 cup brown sugar. In a separate bowl, mix 2 1/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 3.5 ounce package of INSTANT vanilla pudding.

Using your hands, (if adventurous and with the bonus of getting to lick your fingers) gradually mix the flour (a 1/3 at a time) with the creamy butter sugar mixture.

Now add the chocolate chips - I only use semi-sweet as I deplore milk chocolate. I really like using the mini chips because I think you get a better cookie to chocolate ratio in a bite with the smaller pieces. Use about 2/3 of the bag (or more if you want!).

Spoon the dough onto greased or parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 5-8 minutes. The perfect cookie should have a light blond colored bottom and almost no color on top. If you want to eat them hot, be prepared for a sloppy, but delicious mess. Once they cool, they firm up and stay oh-so-soft!!

Enjoy!! I know I did - at least 15 times that day.