This Always Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is perfect for homemade, chewy chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Made with instant vanilla pudding and a chilled dough, these cookies stay soft and gooey long after they cool.
1 ½ - 2cupsgood quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, cream together (on low with either a hand or stand mixer) room temperature butter, brown sugar and white sugar for 1-2 minutes. Mixture should be completely homogenous and smooth, kind of like wet sand.
Add in the instant vanilla pudding mix and combine well on low.
Next, add both eggs and vanilla extract into the mixing bowl and fully combine on low. Mixture should be soft and uniform.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt, mix lightly to incorporate.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the large mixing bowl. Continue to mix on low until all the flour is just incorporated. Do not over mix the dough. There should be no unincorporated flour and dough should come together but still be soft.
Start with 1 ½ cups of chocolate chips and mix by hand with a spatula or wooden spoon until they are dispersed throughout the dough. If desired, add remaining chocolate chips and combine into dough until just together.
Cover the large mixing bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up until 24 hours.
While cookie dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F and line a sheet tray with parchment paper or a silicone non stick mat.
After at least 30 minutes, portion out 1 ounce cookies and roll into a ball. If you do not have a scale, use an ice cream scoop or spoon to portion out even amounts of cookie dough. This helps the cookies bake evenly.
Add cookie dough balls about 1 inch apart on a sheet tray and bake 10-12 minutes until slightly brown around the edges. The cookies will be soft but will set up after cooling.
Allow the tray to cool for 10 minutes before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.
Continue to portion out cookie dough until all the cookie dough is baked. If the cookie dough gets too soft, put back into the refrigerator for 15 minutes until firm.
Notes
Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Freeze extra raw cookie dough in 1 ounce portions on parchment paper on a sheet tray. Ensure they aren’t touching and allow to fully freeze. Once frozen, transfer to a ziploc or other airtight container.
Cookies can be cooked from frozen but add 1-2 minutes to cooking time.